In the motherland of judo, Austria’s fighters won two medals. Shamil Borchashvili took bronze, a day later Michaela Polleres from Ternitz even celebrated silver. “Basically, it has had a big impact in the media,” says AJC Thermenregion chairman Hannes Ferstl, believing that martial arts clubs will be able to benefit from the Olympic medals in the near future: “A few people called me after the fights to see if I had seen it anyway . That has spread like wildfire. There is already a feeling of euphoria, ”reports Ferstl, who has been in judo for decades, and who was also enthusiastic about Peter Seisenbacher’s Olympic victories in the 1980s.
“There was a big boom back then, too,” the club boss hopes for a similar development in the coming weeks. Who can not only refer to the successes of the Olympic athletes. Franz Winter just grabbed EM gold with his partner Robert Hatzl (sports shark) in the non-Olympic kata. Two partners demonstrate the various judo techniques as precisely as possible and receive points from the judges. “We will also try to market this success,” promises Ferstl, who hopes that this will also help some young people to find their way back to judo.
Regular training operations only resume when school starts. Until then, it must be possible to keep the successes present so that some interested children can actually find their way onto the mat. The last few months have been really difficult due to Corona: “If children are not allowed to do anything for six months, they are clearly looking for another job.”
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