Three medals for the Netherlands at the European Judo Championships, but success at the Games is still far away

A little bit of fat on the bones. This is how the individual European Championships for the judokas in Croatia can be summarized. It was not yet very good for the Netherlands, but on the way to the Games there was certainly some perspective: juggling finals were held again.

That was a modest improvement compared to the previous European Championship, last November, when no final place was achieved for the first time since 1990. The Netherlands is currently not a top nation in the world sport of judo.

Frank de Wit and Joanne van Lieshout could have won a gold medal for the Netherlands, but both failed to do so. For De Wit, the final was completely an anticlimax. The 28-year-old judoka won against the defending champion on the way to the final, but was put on his back after 46 seconds in the final battle by the Georgian world champion Tato Grigalashvili.

Van Lieshout participated well

Joanne van Lieshout actually competed very well in her first European Championship final. The emerging talent, who finished third at the World Championships last year, was eventually surprised by her Czech opponent Renata Zachova and thrown onto her back. Due to her consistent performances, Van Lieshout is one of the coming spearheads for the Dutch judo team, together with Sanne van Dijke, who now had to miss the European Championship due to an injury.

So there were some bright spots again, which were difficult to find last year. The silver was only his first European Championship medal for De Wit. Michael Korrel also won bronze on Saturday. They were nevertheless modest bright spots; the breakthrough to great success again failed to materialize. Technical director Gijs Ronnes thought it was a tournament that went ‘as expected’. “It wasn’t that surprising. When you see that we win three medals, it is not surprising that Joanne and Michael are there. Michael certainly had a good tournament, he won against a few important opponents.”

Ronnes also found De Wit’s silver a positive surprise. “Frank has overachieved. And this time he was the only one on our team who did that.” The Dutch team was eliminated early on Sunday as a team.

Scientific knowledge from other sports

There were also some individual disappointments: Noël van ‘t End lost his bronze medal match, just like Jur Spijkers. Guusje Steenhuis, number four in the world in her class, did not get further than the third round. And speaking of fat on the bones: for Tornike Tsjakadoea that was precisely the problem. He failed to pass the weigh-in on the first day of the tournament. Tsjakadoea had to be under sixty kilos, but was slightly overweight. It was a rookie mistake and one that “will be closely evaluated,” Ronnes said. “Tornike himself is already looking ahead.”

It was a mistake that does not contribute to confidence in the sport, in which the Netherlands has not had many successes in recent years. Van ‘t End’s world title in 2019 is still his best performance in recent years. Partly for this reason, there was strong criticism from Henk Grol, former judoka and now NOS analyst. He thought that judo in the Netherlands was being ‘destroyed’, he said, among other things A.D.

It was a cry for help that was responded to with some shrugging of the shoulders: if Grol knows it so well, why doesn’t he come and help? In the meantime, the sport of judo is trying to reach the world top again by all possible means. Scientific knowledge from other sports is being used, so there are now exercise bikes in the warm-up room next to the tatami, so that the judokas can cycle in and out for better recovery. Ronnes: “We now have that really well organized, just like our nutrition and recovery plan.”

Financially cut

However, not everything goes that easy, especially now that the sport of judo has suffered financial cuts in recent years after mediocre performances. Male judokas even have to contribute money to training camps. Ronnes: “It is indeed not a big deal. In general, we can follow a good program, we can do what we see fit. In a new Olympic cycle it is uncertain, although this applies to more sports. We are not going to zero, but we are not getting much either.”

That’s a dot after the Olympic Games. Ronnes has stated the goal that the judo team in Paris will achieve three medals, and European Championship medalists Van Lieshout and Korrel are two spearheads for this. Van Dijke is also part of that ‘leading group’, as is Steenhuis. Ronnes: “We actually have four judokas for three medals. And the rest can surprise.” Because Ronnes also knows that the real big stars are not there: no Dutch judoka is the big favorite in his or her weight class.

Now follows a block of three important matches, including the World Cup. Only then will it become clear who can go to the Games for the Netherlands.