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Judo also means «flexible way». Fabienne Kocher’s path to the Olympic Games in Tokyo is a prime example of this.
Many have long since broken off their careers due to injury. Not so the indomitable Zurich woman. In the course of her career, the 28-year-old overcame two tears of the cruciate ligament with corrective interventions and two meniscus operations. And all of this in the left knee, to which she first had to rebuild trust using visualization techniques.
“Road to Tokyo” – the series from blue Sport
The Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
For many athletes, the Olympic Games are the high point of their careers. While the world’s best tennis players and footballers are permanently in the limelight, many athletes only have the opportunity to present themselves to the masses every four years. As part of the “Road to Tokyo” series, “blue Sport” visits fencers, wrestlers and karate fighters and takes a look behind the scenes at a time when so much is uncertain.
Fabienne Kocher used the end of the losing streak to change the weight class from the 57 kg to the 52 kg limit. “I then only weighed 54 kg in everyday life and there was no reason to build more muscles with strength training, because I felt very efficient even with the lower weight,” says Kocher. She was rewarded for her realignment by winning the bronze medal in the previous month in Budapest and the associated last-minute Olympic ticket for Tokyo.
Intercepted on the home stretch
In contrast to the European Championships and World Championships, only one athlete per country is allowed to start at the Olympics. From a Swiss point of view, the fight for the Olympic starting place in the 52 kg limit was closer than ever before. Evelyne Tschopp, who has already won two EM bronze medals and was an Olympic participant in Rio in 2016, won the direct duel against Kocher at the EM in the spring and was fifth.
But this and all other results were surpassed by Kocher’s World Cup bronze, and Tschopp caught on the home straight. Both Kocher and Tschopp met the qualification guidelines and are traveling to Tokyo. Tschopp, selected as a “replacement”, will be ready to step in.
National coach Alexej Budolin describes the fact that Kocher managed the turnaround in the Olympic qualification as a “self-fulfilling dream”. It was only the second World Cup medal in Swiss women’s judo after 1997 when Monika Kurath also took bronze in Paris in the lightest limit (48 kg).
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Budolin once undefeated against Aschwanden
Kocher was also considered to be an equal challenger for Tschopp in the fight for an Olympic ticket for the 45-year-old Estonian. Nevertheless, Budolin also assumed that the hierarchy would hardly be overturned any more. “Even before the competition resumed, I told Fabienne that she should not concentrate on qualifying for the Olympics, but on a top performance at the World Championships,” Budolin emphasized to “blue Sport”. This took a lot of pressure off Kocher.
Budolin used to duel with Sergei Aschwanden, today’s association president of swiss judo. He left the tatami in four top-level comparisons without exception as the winner, including the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. There he prevailed against Aschwanden on the way to Olympic bronze in the limit of 81 kg at the start of the day. «I was just a very unpleasant opponent for Aschwanden. I myself also had my feared opponents », says Budolin.
Nils Stump went step by step
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In Tokyo, Nils Stump (73 kg) will represent Switzerland as the only athlete in the men’s field. The 24-year-old from Zurich Oberland fought his way step by step into the expanded world elite. After winning bronze at the junior and U23 level, he has now also achieved this for the first time in the elite this year. The 24-year-old from Zurich Oberland says: “I’ve learned a lot from year to year. It is the sum of all the work over all the years that led to my Olympic qualification. “
In the 73 kg field, Stump will compete as an underdog. But he says: “I’ve already beaten two or three fighters out of the top 10 in the world rankings. If I have a good day, anything is possible. ” This was the case at this year’s European Championships in Lisbon. At the Olympics, he also relies on the motivational skills of national coach Alexej Budolin. «He’s always able to push me very well just before a fight. This strengthens my focus enormously. ”
The male judo made his debut in 1964 at the first Olympic Games in Tokyo. In Japan, the motherland of this one-on-one sport, Eric Hänni won silver for Switzerland, the first ever Olympic judo medal. After Hänni, Jürg Röthlisberger (1976 bronze, 1980 gold) and Sergei Aschwanden (2008 bronze) also won Olympic Judo medals for Switzerland. There was still no Swiss precious metal among women. However, women’s judo has only been Olympic since 1992.
There are currently two insurmountable hurdles for cookers as well; the Japanese Uta Abe and the French Amandine Buchard. So far, she has remained unsuccessful against both. “Against around 70 percent of the field in Tokyo, Fabienne has at least one victory,” said Budolin.
The strenght is to be found in serenity
Kocher regrets that spectators are excluded from the Olympics in the motherland of judo. «The mood would certainly have been impressive. Because at the Grand Slam there, the emotions in the stands are always very high, ”she knows. On the other hand, it might not be so bad for getting a top performance if there is no great Olympic atmosphere.
At rest she could develop the strength for an exploit. “You may feel less pressure or you don’t think so much about the importance of the occasion. Maybe that plays into your cards if there isn’t too much going on overall. ”
Kocher, who started judo at the age of eight, will not stay in Tokyo with the substitute fighter Tschopp, who is also vaccinated. Neither will the two train together. Because if one of the two had a positive corona test, there would be no Swiss start in the 52 kg limit if Kocher and Tschopp met in advance. Kocher is therefore taking a junior with him to Tokyo as a sparring partner, who otherwise fights in the lightest men’s limit (60 kg). “We have been training together for around a year and are therefore well coordinated.”
