After a last fight of three minutes and eight minutes of Golden Score, “sudden death” determining a winner in judo, Clément Condomines takes third place at the last World Veterans Championships in Lisbon. Return on a course strewn with pitfalls.
Having started judo in Montauban when he was 4 years old, a former student of a sport studies in Bordeaux, Clément joined the Colomiers club in November 2019 when his professional activity made him leave the capital for a return to the Toulouse region. “I chose to sign for Colomiers because I knew people with whom I had already fought in the past and to join one of the two big clubs in Toulouse”. With one objective, the return to competition, in the Veterans M1 category, dedicated to 30-35 year olds.
If the Covid went through there and delayed the plans of our judoka, with the absence of competitions, “I continued my training and my preparation, at home or as soon as the dojo was not closed”. Always with this same passion and the desire to discover it. His return to a major competition would therefore be in Lisbon, during the World Championships from October 21 to 24, no more and no less. And it was a real obstacle course that awaited Clément, as soon as he arrived in the Lisbon capital, since the participants were subjected to a battery of PCR tests and placed in a sanitary bubble before starting on the tatami mats.
The Columérin will go until the semi-finals before falling. But to get up on the occasion of this 3rd place against another French, David Czukiewycz. And never let go during this final fight. “After the disappointment, I was determined to go to the end thanks to the support of my family, my relatives, my club. And I had promised to bring back a medal to my older daughter” he recalls. This father now awaits the rest with envy while thanking US Colomiers judo one last time. “I performed thanks to the mutual aid in our group of veterans. These are the very values of this sport for which I encourage everyone to come and try.”
