Ai Tsunoda has breathed judo from the cradle. His father, Go Tsunoda, was the Great Britain coach at the Summer Olympics. London 2012 and coach of Telma Monteirobronze in Río 2016. His mother and coach, Céline Roustant, was also a judoka. And she, only 20 years old, is one of the great hopes of Spanish judo to paris 2024.
There in the French capital Tsunoda has achieved his first major international victory in absolute category, gold at the Grand Slam in Paris. In the fight for the medals, the Spanish woman defeated Barbara Maticdouble world champion and number one in the -70 kg ranking, and the local favourite, Marie-Eve Gahie.
At the top of the podium, his shaved head drew attention. And that look partly helps explain her recent takeoff. Only in the last eight months, Ai Tsunoda has been European and world junior champion and with this sum three consecutive Grand Slam medals: silver in Tbilisi, bronze in Tokyo and gold in Paris.
The beginnings of Ai Tsunoda in judo
Ai Tsunoda’s (2001) parents arrived in Lérida, in northern Spain, at the end of the 1990s, and shortly after she was born they opened a dojo in the town (Dojo Lleida). Although she was in contact with judo from a very young age, the first sport he wanted to practice was artistic gymnastics. Her love for the mat would begin at ten, when she first climbed on one to compete.
Tsunoda was born and has always lived in Spain, but had the Japanese and French nationalities of his parents. She is a great cocktail having roots in the two great powers of judo, but she wanted to represent her country. That is why she did not compete internationally until in 2019 she received Spanish nationality. And that same year she was proclaimed cadet world champion.
In January 2020, Ai Tsunoda already won his first medal in an absolute category Grand Prix (bronze in Tel Aviv) and a few weeks later he was very close to repeating in Düsseldorf. The takeoff from him was explosive… But then the pandemic came. A slowdown in his career, but also an opportunity to grow.
Shaved hair and Paris 2024 goal
In an interview in the Spanish newspaper The world, Ai Tsunoda assured that the months of confinement helped him to reconsider. “I won, but I didn’t like my character. It is difficult to explain: I was competing, not fighting. He played a little with the limits. For example, he could seek the disqualification of the rival for a punch. My goal was to pass rounds, but it didn’t fill me up, I was missing something, ”he confessed. “I changed in all aspects: personally, technically, physically.”
And as a reflection of that change, he decided to shave his hair. “I did it to see everything more clearly, so nothing bothered me,” she continued. “Now I am happy, I look more honest. In fact, When I won the Junior World Cup [de 2021] I did not feel a great joy, I felt a liberation for everything”. Already with a shaved head, the look so characteristic that she also wore at the top of the podium at the Grand Slam in Paris.
It was his third medal in a row in Grand Slam, and his confirmation as the hope of Spanish judo for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The withdrawal of Maria Bernabeua double world medalist and a two-time Olympian, opened the door to the selection in the -70 kg category and her successes allow her to score vital points in the race to seal her ticket.
