Orange judoka Tsjakadoea too heavy at weigh-in: cancels European Championship participation

NOS Sports•today, 6:08 PM•Amended today, 9:36 PM

Tornike Tsjakadoea has been excluded from participating in the European Judo Championships, which start on Thursday in Zagreb. The Dutchman with Georgian roots, competing in the class up to 60 kilograms, turned out to be too heavy today at the weigh-in for the tournament.

During such a weighing, judokas may not exceed the maximum weight allowed in their class by a gram. It is rare that a judoka does not pass a weigh-in, but especially in the lightweight class of Tsjakadoea, it is often a challenge to stay under 60 kilograms.

“There will of course be many people who will draw conclusions from outside, but do not know what happens behind the scenes and what this sport demands of your body,” Tsjakadoea told NOS.

The judoka emphasizes that the weighing is his own responsibility. “Of course. This time the weight was more difficult than expected. Perhaps because of the many tournaments I have played. Or because I have often had to lose weight and my body reacts to it in a certain way. Or because of the discharge and emotions after a period of score points for the Games.”

In 2009 we made the report below with Ruben Houkes in the run-up to the European Judo Championships. He also had to weigh less than 60 kilograms and followed an ‘unbelievable diet’ to achieve this.

2009: judoka Houkes’ extreme diet of ‘a kiwi a day’ for European Championships

Tsjakadoea won bronze at a Grand Slam tournament for the fifth time in his career in Tbilisi in March. He is well on his way to qualifying for the Olympic Games again. At the European Championships he could have won points for the Olympic rankings.

In 2021, Tsjakadoea lost the Olympic bronze medal match at the Games in Japan.

“This certainly does not come as a surprise,” Gijs Ronnes, the technical director of the judo association, said later in the evening on the radio in Langs de Lijn En Omstreek. “Tornike is very disappointed, all of us.”

“It has been a lot of hard work in recent days to get rid of those kilos. And it just didn’t work out. It concerns a few hundred grams. In the weeks before a tournament you have to put on a lot of weight, as they say. Normally he trains at a weight of 65 kilos.”

Ronnes: “The top players are really on the edge. No one weighs 58 kilos. And on competition day everyone is heavier again, they weigh 63 or 64 kilos. So the viewer is a bit fooled. But I want emphasize that this is not unhealthy. It is of course quite tough for your body, but if you do it right, it will not cause any damage.”

Ronnes believes that responsibility also lies with the staff. “Not just at Tornike. We have to see what lessons we can learn from this, what we didn’t do well: we will go into that in more detail after the European Championship.”

Tsjakadoea concludes with the words: “It’s just about learning from your mistakes and moving on. That’s top sport.”