Judoka’s Vermeer & Ausma: Content Writer Focus

The Freean judoka Sanmeer and Natassa Ausma end their top sports careers. To Omrop Fryslân The pair tells that there are various reasons underlying that decision, including a bad atmosphere at the National Sports Center Papendal in Arnhem.

As a top athlete, Ausma regularly missed the team feeling, she says. “At the women’s team a lot is spoken behind someone’s back. I sometimes felt alone at tournaments. That made me get less and less pleasure in the judo.”

The contact with Guillaume Elmont, the new director of Topsport at the Judobond for several months, was also not going well. “Measurements are made with two sizes and I find that unfair,” says Ausma. “I had a conversation about that with Elmont, but that was not a pleasant conversation. It was even smaller.”

The Olympic Games in Paris last summer went bad for the Dutch judokas. For the first time in forty years, no medal was achieved and partly because of that, the Judobond now receives less money from the NOC*NSF.

It was previously announced that the union wanted to reduce the number of judokas at Topsportcentrum Papendal. According to Vermeer, the way that happens is not always fair.

“Quite a lot of people had to leave, because there was less money available. That is logical in itself, but a reason has a reason for one and for the other the same reason does not count.”

“It sometimes seems that people have been forgotten for years on Papendal …”, Vermeer continues. “It is not just a job that you cancel the contract. For many people, Judo is their entire lives, but they have just told people to leave.”

Both judokas were struggling with serious injuries during their careers. Vermeer missed two Olympic Games because of cruciate ligament injuries and went under the knife five times between 2019 and 2022.

Ausma is currently rehabilitating from a cruciate ligament injury, who, according to her, also played a role in her decision to stop. “As long as rehabilitation and then you have to build everything up again, that is not realistic.”

Last week Karen Stevenson revealed at the Judo World Cup in Budapest that she is not allowed to continue on Papendal. She finished seventh in her weight class at the World Cup, but still stood in front of the camera with a heavy mind.

“I can’t say much about it. Except that the conversations did not work out well and I can’t get through on Papendal,” Stevenson said.