Sit and Talk with Tina Trstenjak and Clarisse Agbégnénou (2017)

[FRA – Cet article est une reprise de la version anglaise d’un entretien mis en ligne en avril 2017 sur l’ancienne version du site Internet du bimestriel français L’Esprit du judo. Cette version anglaise n’était plus visible depuis la mise à jour dudit site à l’automne 2020. La voici à nouveau.]

[ENG – This article is a reprint of the English version of an interview published online in April 2017, on the old version of the website of the French bimonthly magazine L’Esprit du judo. This English version was no longer visible when the website was updated in autumn 2020. Here it is again.]

 

 

 

Women’s tennis had Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, just as cinema had Al Pacino and Robert de Niro in Michael Mann’s Heat… But what about judo? In 2017 in Düsseldorf, the two leaders of the U63kg category responded to our verbal ping-pong without any preparation. A kind of haiku conversation, to be read in two ways: for what they say about the champion’s mind; and for what they hide, or say between the lines, or beyond the smiles. Indeed, for the 25-year-old world number one from Slovenia and the 24-year-old world number two from France, their rivalry seems more real than ever. – JudoAKDReplay#007.

 

 

A French version of this interview is available here.

 

 

What strengths do you see in each other?

Clarisse Agbégnénou: For me, Tina is fast, smart and dangerous in ne-waza.
Tina Trstenjak: Clarisse is smart, strong and dangerous on ura-nage.

 

And the weak points?

CA: Maybe sometimes she confuses speed with haste. It can be a double-edged sword.
TT: That’s a difficult question because I don’t really see any weaknesses in Clarisse’s judo. It all depends on the fight.

 

25 April 2014, final of the European Championships in Montpellier. Clarisse, 1, Tina, 0. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD

 

How has your rivalry made you a better judoka?

CA: I know that I have to keep my mouth shut with Tina because she will use any opening to start something.
TT: I feel lucky to have an opponent like Clarisse. I have won almost everything in the last two seasons, but the simple fact that I could meet her again at some point helps me to stay focused.

 

What would your careers be like without each other?

CA: I need challenges, otherwise I’m boring. Tina is my challenge at the moment.
TT: I feel that with Clarisse. She helps me to always try to improve.

 

How often do you think about each other? Is it daily? Once a week? Monthly?

CA: Wow… You know, for me there is my life, then there is judo. It’s in that order, so the only time I think about Tina is when I have to fight her. And I think that’s enough [she smiles]
TT: Same for me. To focus on Clarisse or any other fighter would be a mistake for me. The most important thing is to focus on my judo. If it happens that Clarisse is on my way, only my judo will help me to win.

 

9 August 2016, final of the Olympic Games in Rio. Clarisse, 3, Tina, 3. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD

 

When you start a competition where both of you are registered, do you hope to fight each other or do you feel relieved if the other one is defeated earlier?

CA: It’s more than a hope: I know I’m going to fight her. But you know, for me it’s very simple. To be the best, you have to beat the best. Today, between the first place and me, there is Tina. So I have to fight her. And that’s fine with me!
TT: Same for me. If I win a competition where Clarisse is registered, without having to fight her, the taste will be different. I don’t want to be disrespectful to the other girls in the category, but that’s the point: Clarisse is the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced.
CA: Same for me.

 

In your U63kg category, the last Olympic cycle began with a rivalry between Clarisse and Yarden Gerbi from Israel, who both finished 2nd and 1st at the 2013 World Championships, then 1st and 2nd at the 2014 World Championships. Then this Olympic cycle ended with your rivalry because you finished 1st and 2nd at the 2015′ World Championships and then at the 2016′ Olympic Games. What is the difference between these two rivalries?

CA: Yarden, it’s a different kind of judo. I have some points against her. With Tina I really can’t afford to make a mistake because she won’t miss me!
TT: I’ve lost to Yarden quite often [for example in 29 seconds in their quarter-final at Chelyabinsk 2014, ed] but I have to admit that I’ve worked a lot since then. I’m a different Tina now.

 

11 February 2017, Grand Slam final in Paris. Clarisse, 3, Tina, 4. Waiting for the next round? ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD

 

Since your first match in the final of the 2014 European Championships, you have met seven times. Clarisse, you won the first three matches. You, Tina, won the last four, including three finals in a row in Astana 2015, Rio 2016 and Paris 2017. With the European Championships in Warsaw and then the World Championships in Budapest coming up, are you working on a secret weapon in case you have to fight again together?

TT: Of course not [she smiles]. Even if I wanted to work on such a trick, Clarisse would see it from a distance because she knows me perfectly now. It’s too late to try to surprise her.
CA: Sometimes I ask my training partners to fight « Tina’s way » to see how I can adapt. But for me the real difference will come on D-Day, because you can try to « act like Tina », but in the end there is only one Tina. And I know I have to be ready because she will be ready.
TT: For me, if we have to fight again, the difference will be the strategy that I will decide with my coach Marjan Fabjan and my overall ability to follow that strategy until the end of the fight. That’s what I did the last time we met and it was positive for me. So I’m working to keep it going.
CA: And I am working to stop it [they laugh]. – Interview by Anthony Diao, winter 2017. Opening picture: ©JudoAKD.

 

 

 

A French version of this interview is available here.

 

 

 

 

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