Matthias Casse and Toma Nikiforov will no doubt remember this last week of January 2021 for a long time. Arrived in Austria for the Mittersill camp on Sunday evening, after a trip of 800 km, they had to put away their kimonos and pack up on Wednesday morning. At issue: several cases of Covid-19 among … village ski instructors who did not comply with health measures and tested positive.
Faced with the risk of contamination, the authorities canceled everything in the region, even threatening the Austrian Federation to cut its subsidies in the event of non-compliance with the directives. Suddenly, Matthias, Toma and ours (but also the 200 judokas, from 13 countries) were forced to take their minibuses back to Belgium before… leaving for Cologne! “We trained for two and a half days in Austria, then we had to go back. The fault of these few ski instructors, coming out of their bubble and having contracted the virus. Fortunately, we made arrangements with the coach of the team from Germany so that we can come and train in Cologne! “, explique Damiano Martinuzzi.
The return trip to Belgium turned into an obstacle course for Casse, Nikiforov et Cie.
“We were checked at the border between Austria and Germany. They asked us for our Covid tests. Fortunately, we had another one just before leaving Mittersill! Especially since, twenty minutes later, we were stopped by an unmarked police car. Passport check and, above all, tests inside the two minibuses with Belgian license plates. We finally returned in the evening to spend the night from Wednesday to Thursday in peace at the house before heading back to Cologne. “
This time in a personal car! Because, in Germany, it is forbidden to travel to more than one family or bubble per vehicle. Matthias traveled with his brother Jeroen, Toma with me while Karel Foubert, Pieter Van Dyck and Mark Van der Ham drove alone. Not easy, although Cologne is fortunately less far than Mittersill. But it takes more to destabilize us . We are here until Saturday. “
Before lining up in Tel Aviv (February 18-20), the Dutch-speaking judokas will go back to training in Hungary and… Austria. “We have found four places for an internship in Hungary, from 4 to 10. They will be for Matthias, Toma, Amber Ryheul and Mina Libeer. All the others will return to Austria, to Leibnitz this time, from 6 to 10. With this crisis health, we have to adapt. But no worries! “, concluded Damiano Martinuzzi.
