Status: 11/30/2021 6:00 a.m.
Dominic Ressel is nominated as Sportsman of the Year. The Olympic Games in Tokyo were the biggest competition of the judoka’s career so far – and the man from Kiel came home with a bronze medal.
Dominic Ressel describes his sporting year as “tough and exhausting”. Due to the postponement of the Olympic Games, the 28-year-old judoka had to prove again in an extended qualification phase that he is the best German in the middleweight class up to 81 kilograms. “But it was also a year that showed me that clenching your teeth and fighting is worthwhile and that in the end everything will be fine,” he says.
The shoulder had been a problem for him for a long time. Because of the high stress of the past few years, the Kieler had pain again and again. He used the Corona time to have an operation. “This shift has even given me a small advantage. The shoulder is no longer like new, but it works,” he said before the Olympics.
Olympic participation is “a really big deal”
At first Dominic Ressel had difficulties getting back into the competition. “Sometimes I had to turn some screws on my body again, some screws in my head – on my psyche, so to speak, in order to find the balance between calmness and focus.” At the Judo World Championships in Budapest in June he missed the final places, but left his national competitor behind. The Olympic nomination was no longer in danger. “By participating in the Olympics, I fulfilled a huge dream that I’ve been pursuing for years. And just taking part was a big deal for me,” he says.
With a medal chance to Tokyo
Dominic Ressel was then one of the favorites in Tokyo. And twice he fought for a medal. “Unfortunately without an audience. You had to convince yourself a little bit – ey, this is the Olympics here. It’s about an Olympic medal right now,” he remembers. In the individual he impressed up to the bronze fight. So he moved into the small final and just missed a medal. He finished fifth and he was very frustrated about it.
A few days later he fought for third place with the mixed team. “Winning the bronze medal in a team was just great for me. Especially because I narrowly missed the medal in the individual, the medal with the team felt like a reward for an overall good competition. And maybe one or two tears of joy have come down too. “
2022: “Next year there will be another attack”
Judo is Dominic Ressel’s greatest hobby that he has turned into a career. He loves what he does – and convinces through discipline. “You have to watch your weight, you have to lose weight, you have to torture yourself to the utmost. And personally, I don’t know how and who I would be without competitive sport.”
It all paid off this year: the 28-year-old is satisfied with his Olympic debut. After the games, Dominic Ressel had his shoulder operated on for the second time. He has just started training again. “Next year there will be another attack,” he says. By then he wants to finish his training with the federal police.
Portraits of the athletes of the year 2021
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