First modification: 30/06/2021 – 12:24Last modification: 30/06/2021 – 12:22
Peja (Kosovo) (AFP)
Majlinda Kelmendi can boast of having offered Kosovo its first and only Olympic gold medal. The judoka, symbol of a young nation on the international level, wants to repeat the feat in Tokyo and inspire the sports dreams of her compatriots.
In a bright dojo in Peja, a small city in western Kosovo called Pec by the Serbs, the dark and muscular athlete trains like every day with the four judokas who will leave for Japan like her.
She will no longer be alone when it comes to representing Kosovar judo, as in 2016 in Rio, in the first Games in which the former province of Belgrade participated, eight years after its independence.
At 30, the young woman approaches the competition with “calm” and confesses much more relaxed than at the time.
“It was much more difficult before Rio” since “all the pressure fell on me”, he explains to AFP on the red and yellow tatami of the club opened after the war of independence (1998-99) by his coach and mentor, Driton “Toni” Kuka.
“Today I am much more relaxed. I am no longer alone. There are five of us. We will all look for a medal and at least one of us will achieve it,” she says.
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In the Olympic delegation of Kosovar judo there are four women and one man, all in the Top 10 of their category, according to the sports authorities of the country. “Majlinda leads the group, but I expect more than one medal,” sums up the patron of the local Olympic committee, Ismet Krasniqi.
– “Hard” –
The athlete (-52 kg), twice world champion and three times in Europe, also attributes her serenity to the fact that she has already won an Olympic gold.
“Whatever happens, my dream has already come true,” he says. He has nothing to prove, although he will try to “defend the title”.
Born in Peja, Majlinda started judo in 1999 at the age of eight. The war between Albanian pro-independence and Serbian forces had just ended when he opened the door of the Ippon Judo Club, created by Kuka, in the underprivileged neighborhood of Asllan Çeshme.
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It was her older sister who pushed her to take the step, she remembers: “Every day she told me to go have fun” on the tatami.
He had no idea where he put his feet, but he quickly liked the martial art: “It is a difficult sport but if you like it, you forget everything. You have to have your own determination and goals.”
His technician remembers a “special student when she first came to the dojo, and she still is.”
– Heroin –
His mother Fikrete was the first in the family to practice a martial art, karate, a few months in her youth. Her father Ismet, a former professional soccer player, also encouraged her to practice her hobby as a child.
Whatever happens in Japan, Kelmendi will retain her status as a national hero who “opened the door for Kosovo to the high-level world sports scene,” according to Ismet Krasniqi.
A success that goes beyond the sports field and is part of the battle for the recognition that Belgrade continues to deny its former province, supported by China and Russia, depriving Pristina of a place in the UN.
“Sports diplomacy is very important to us as a young country, as it helps to make our international promotion,” adds the president of the Olympic committee.
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Peja’s judoka remains faithful to her modesty despite a statue in her honor that has just been erected in a city park. Once his career is over, he plans to help Kuka. And hope there is a relay.
“I really hope that after me, there will be other gold medals for Kosovo at the Olympics,” she says.
“I have no doubt, and it will not be a surprise at all, that Toni (Kuka) continues to train future Olympic champions in this dojo,” concludes Majlinda Kelmendi.
© 2021 AFP
