In Valencia he is nicknamed the Basque, something of which he is deeply proud. Left Vitoria with 18 years, but the roots for his origins continues latent. The nexus of union was his mother, who died in 2011. His tears at the London Olympics were cried by an entire country that empathized with him after seeing how a controversial arbitration decision took away the metal for which he had worked intensely during the four years of the Olympic cycle. His rival was the South Korean Jun-Ho Cho. Before he had lost to the Hungarian Miklos Ungvari in a tight semifinal duel that was resolved by a ‘yuko’ (1-0).
On your way to the medals, Sugoi had successfully defeated the Azerbaijani Tarlan Karimov, world number 16, his training partner Daniel García (Andorra), the Aruban Jayme Matas and the Italian Francesco Faraldo. After thinking about it a lot, he decided to hold out for four more years and, at the maturity of his 32 years, his intentions in Rio were to win gold.
This is Sugoi, determined, firm «a little checkered and very demanding. I think like an engineer ”, he points out. It is. Electronics and industrial organization engineer, with two master’s degrees, one in engineering and the other in sports management. And Doctor. The icing that was missing. «I have been training without the pressure of going to look for a job. I do not have work experience. I’m rusty. In these 4 years I have done the doctorate. I have a grant from the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation of 1,000 euros per month, but in 2021 it ends. I thought about the doctorate to close the academic cycle. I was excited to mix engineering and sports variables, “he explains from Valencia, a land of sports tradition and where over time a world reference center for judo has been formed: Benimaclet.
The Knight’s Farmhouse
In recent years, spaces such as the tatami, the gym or the annex building called the Knight’s farmhouse. It is conceived as a residence for elite athletes who aspire to enter the program run by the Valencian Federation, with the support of the Higher Sports Council. It is the workplace of Sugoi Uriarte. Did you officially retire as an elite athlete? Surprisingly and the other way around than many – calling massive press conferences or reading emotional statements – the Vitorian preferred to leave in silence. «I couldn’t imagine saying goodbye. I would not have known what to say. It may sound “cold and even distant. They say I am, ”but at short distances, this superclass of tatami mats is emotional, racial, special. Values that he instills in his students, hand in hand with his wife, Laura Gómez, former international and Olympic judoka, with whom he has two children: Unai about four years old and Julen who is barely four months old. Both Basque names, by wish of the father. “Marc’s idea was lurking, but in the end, easy Basque names, so they know how to pronounce them,” he jokes.
Two pupils stand out above the rest, Julia Figueroa and Ana Pérez Box, very well placed in the Olympic rankings and with serious aspirations to be in Tokyo. In other words, Sugoi Uriarte will return to the Olympic Games after the bitter taste of London and the impotence experienced in Rio de Janeiro; He will do it as a coach, championing the famous phrase of the American general Douglas MacArthur: “I am leaving but I will return.” With what intentions? There is no discussion. “I’m going to get a medal, if not, I’m not going”, affirms convinced. «The Olympiad is the best, but in London I got such a disappointment that I do not remember it as something beautiful. I couldn’t enjoy the Games because I was sad to lose the medal. I went to Rio de Janeiro with a lot of desire because I was sure of achieving gold. After the injury I remember it bitterly, but I enjoyed the show more because I was able to go see other sports, “he concludes.
Anyone who has approached the Valencian judo temple will have seen a photo and a phrase on a wall, with all the motivating effect. “Meaningful suffering becomes motivation.” The signature Dusko Ivanovic. «For me Dusko is God, the best coach and motivator», Confesses the Gasteiztarra, a declared fan of both Baskonia and Alavés, where he has suffered for his close friend Manu García, already saved with the Albiazul team.
«I demand what he demanded of me»
How is the Sugoi coach? “My fault is that with how demanding I have been, I cannot think that my students are not. I demand everything that I demanded of myself, and there you get disappointments, it is difficult to enjoy the moment when you are so demanding. It’s complicated. I try to be more sympathetic than I can get, “he explains with a shy laugh.
He was able to complete another Olympic cycle and stand with 37 years to achieve the longed-for gold. He was able to have a natural replacement in his brother Gar, six years younger, also a competitor in the same category of 66 kilos, several times champion of Spain and with a natural talent for this sport. However, the youngest of the Uriarte family, born in 1990, with extensive experience in European and world championships, was planted in 2018 and decided to join the job market as a mechanical engineer. Maier, the only girl of the four brothers, the eldest named Eriz, did win several national titles. “She had the talent, I put in work to alleviate other deficiencies,” she says with pride, praising the good work of her sister in her stage in high-level judo.
The path undertaken, he emphasizes, teaches that “one is always a judoka.” This is how this European champion feels in 2010, awarded that year with the Bronze Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit. After achieving the World runner-up in 2009, he received the distinction awarded by the Higher Sports Council as the Best Spanish University Athlete of 2009. In his record, the runner-up of the Bangkok Universiade in 2007 also stands out. and the bronze medal at the 2006 Under-23 European Championship held in Moscow.
Sugoi, “the incredible and wonderful”, in Japanese, Sugoi as Basque pre-Christian deity associated with storms and lightning, represented by a dragon or a serpent. Since he never really left, he returns with ambition for his new sporting conquests. The tatami will dictate sentence in Japanese lands.
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