From an Old Continent – Episode 1/13 – Summer 2025

20/07/2025

« And it is an old country, France, from an old continent like mine, Europe, that tells you this today, which has known wars, occupation, barbarity… » These words went down in history on February 14, 2003, during the speech to the UN Security Council by the French Foreign Minister of the time. The debate concerned the positioning of member states regarding an allied armed intervention against Iraq. The terms became historic. They confirmed a ridge line, halfway between the end of five centuries of Western domination and that Beginning of a World that French essayist Jean-Claude Guillebaud spoke of as early as 2008.

The connection to judo? Patience. « We live in a world where the most important thing for a person is another person » declared Russian Inal Tasoev, double world champion in the O100kg category, at the beginning of this summer 2025. Twice in two decades spent among other things traveling and telling a story of the judo planet, I had the chance to accompany two groups of judokas on long-form formats, for the French bimonthly magazine L’Esprit du judo. The first group was composed of eight French judokas, grouped under the name Judo Academy, from the Rotterdam World Championships in 2009 to the London Games in 2012. This group included four women (Lucile Duport, Morgane Ribout, Emmanuelle Payet and Audrey Tcheuméo) and four men (Florent Urani, Ugo Legrand, Axel Clerget and Nicolas Brisson).

The Rio World Championships in 2013 were the occasion to launch a new series. Eleven judokas from eleven different countries then answered present until the 2016 Olympics, also in Rio. On the women’s side, it was French Amandine Buchard, Hungarian Hedvig Karakas, Israeli Yarden Gerbi, American Kayla Harrison and Cuban Idalys Ortiz. On the men’s side, the cast included Russian Yakub Shamilov, South African Gideon « Jacques » Van Zyl, Canadian Antoine Valois-Fortier, Brazilian Tiago Camilo, Belgian Toma Nikiforov and Egyptian Islam El Shehaby.

Formidable ways to take the pulse of a discipline, of an era and of a generation, these two series called for a little brother nine years later. The olympiad that is opening and the JudoAKD site will this time be its setting. Seven fighters and three « supervisors » have agreed to come aboard From An Old Continent – a title in reference to the sentence that opens this current introduction, and which refers to the 100% European pedigree of this 2025 cast.

Why speak #FromAnOldContinent? Because it’s the most legitimate position, when setting course for a New World that is itself in the midst of a crisis of faith. Because if the judo planet is also gradually decentering itself, many training camps and tournaments still take place there. Telling this movement in motion means giving voice to people called to be as much at the controls of their project as in the front row of the tectonic plates of contemporary judo. People also chosen for their ability to put into words the multiple phases through which a career passes.

From summer 2025 to summer 2028 and at the rate of one episode per quarter corresponding to the four seasons of the calendar, the cast of this series written in contact with those who animate it includes four French judokas (French U57 Faïza Mokdar, U63 Melkia Auchecorne, U60 Romain Valadier-Picard and U66 Daikii Bouba), three foreigners (Spanish U52 Ariane Toro Soler, Italian U81 Giacomo Gamba and Finnish O100 Martti Puumalainen). For the first time, the series also opens the door to people gravitating very close to the mat: Morgane Sellès, French physiotherapist for the Azerbaijan team, Paco Lozano, indispensable Spanish photographer of the circuit, and Toma Nikiforov, newly retired Belgian whom we had followed since 2013 during his emergence in the time of the World Judo Academy and whom it seemed coherent to us to accompany during this often singular time of reconversion towards life after. – JudoAKDRoadToLA2028#01.

A French version of this article is available here.

Paris, February 1st, 2025. French champion two months earlier in Chalon-sur-Saône, Romain Valadier-Picard confirms that he’ll have to be reckoned with in U60kg by claiming gold at the Paris Grand Slam. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD

Romain Valadier-Picard, #6 in the U60kg category ranking – Not easy to start an olympiad under the same colors as the world #1 in the category. This obligation of having to go through the body of metronome Luka Mkheidze, third at the Tokyo Olympics, second at those in Paris and 2023 European champion, Romain Valadier-Picard integrated and digested it as early as summer 2024, as he told us at the time in a long logbook. Back in business to smash everything, the ACBB judoka is going to go about it methodically: series of training camps in Japan (« we make their task too easy by constantly having complexes against them; for me it starts with straightening my posture« ), regaining bearings in Uzbekistan, French champion in November, winner of the Paris Grand Slam in February by finally dominating, for the first time at his sixth attempt, a representative of the Land of the Rising Sun. Unfortunately, he gets injured at the international training camp that follows: rupture of the external ligament of the right knee. Like in December on his return from the Tokyo training camp where he had left a finger, he has to go under the knife. Three weeks on crutches, three weeks of rehabilitation in Capbreton, good sensations at the Benidorm international training camp. He reassures himself two weeks before the Worlds by winning the Sarajevo European Cup. In Budapest, the man with the longest skirt on the circuit gets through the rounds without trembling, taking advantage of the return of the yuko to bring back into fashion the expression « stick on a Christmas tree » against Hungarian Csanad Feczko – the very same one who had eliminated Luka Mkheidze in the previous round, postponing by a few months the great fratricidal showdown that should not fail to come during this olympiad. Beaten in the final by Japanese Nagayama with all-silent revanchist joy, he immediately declares that he is not satisfied with this color of metal, with that mentali-Ty specific to the Special Forces group from which he also comes: « I want to become better than the best and have my portrait at Insep » (in France, world champions have the privilege of seeing their portrait displayed for life on the walls of the Insep dojo, ed. note). Three weeks of active rest in Paris, Toulouse, Lyon, Chambéry and… at 3,887 m at the summit of Mount Fuji with his buddy Alexandre Tama, before going to sweat with the French team at Kokushikan then Tenri. Where he blows out his twenty-third candles, on July 20.

*Paris Olympics, August 3rd, 2024. By leading with* waza-ari *against Japanese Uta Abe during the mixed team event, Ariane Toro Soler shows that she’s already ready for the coming olympiad. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD*

Ariane Toro Soler, #10 in the U52kg category ranking – It was over a coffee facing the sea in Alicante in June 2024 with coach Carlos Montero that our attention was drawn to the trajectory of this U52kg constantly on the attack. The technician, who possessed a remarkable comprehension of ne-waza and had formerly coached Cecilia Blanco and María Bernabeu, both former European and world multi-medalists, recommended that the individual in question should be closely observed… In civilian life, Ariane is the daughter of Yolanda Soler, triple European champion and medalist in U48kg at the Atlanta Games, and José Tomás Toro, U65kg holder for Spain during those same American Olympics. European junior vice-champion in autumn 2023, the child from Pamplona arrives in the wake without complexes on the senior circuit in the manner of a Fabio Basile for Italy two olympiads earlier. Three Grand Slam podiums and one European medal later, here she is selected for the Paris Games right under the nose of Estrella Lopez-Shériff, her eleven-year-older senior, presumed holder just a few months before but who literally liquefied in the final stretch (nine first-round defeats between November 2023 and April 2024).

If the individual event on July 28 turns short for the novice, the latter marks minds six days later. During the mixed teams event on Saturday, she has the nerve to lead by waza-ari against Her Majesty Uta Abe herself. Admittedly, the then quadruple World champion from Japan is still groggy from her surprise elimination the previous Sunday in the second round of the event she was the defending champion of. Through experience as much as pride, Hifumi’s little sister still manages to get out of the hornet’s nest – and Japan to tame not without difficulty the valiant Spanish.

Back on the European podium in April in Podgorica, Ariane signs a thunderous start to the World championships on June 14 in Budapest. She dominates with style nothing less than Italian Odette Giuffrida, double Olympic medalist and defending World champion, and Japanese number two Kisumi Omori, winner this season of the Zagreb Grand Prix and the Tokyo and Paris Grand Slams… But the dream turns short. In the semis against the inexhaustible Distria Krasniqi then in the bronze medal match against local Roza Gyertyas, she lowers her flag physically and still blames herself. « It’s frustrating especially since I was coming off three victories in a year against the Hungarian and I feel that the Kosovar has worked on me since I dominated her in Tbilisi last year… I’m going to take the summer to digest, go on vacation with my friends and take advantage of this long period without big deadlines to prepare properly for what’s next. » In the sights of the one who blew out twenty-one candles on July 10, a three-week training camp in Japan in September and the Tokyo Grand Slam in December.

*The slow rise to power of Giacomo Gamba, here in Switzerland against Aurélien Bonferroni on July 17th, 2022 at the Winterthur European Cup. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD*

Giacomo Gamba, world #44 in the U81 kg category – The U81kg fighter has one particularity: being born the same day and same year as Dilyan, Toma Nikiforov‘s brother. And then another: he was present that August evening in 2011 at the Paris World Championships where, with L’Esprit du judo‘s camera, we had captured live the triumphant return to his people of Tagir Khaybulaev, U100kg World champion just minutes before. Finally, « Jack » wasn’t even fifteen yet when, in spring 2014, his father Ezio did me the honor of sharing a training session with them in their stronghold of Forza e Costanza in Brescia – where U78kg Alice Bellandi also grew up, the only Paris Olympic champion to have managed to double down this year in Budapest…

Jack’s trajectory is interesting. The intelligence of approach that emerges from it refers to all the Anglo-Saxon and Japanese literature around the long-term development of athletes. « It was my mother who took me to judo for the first time, when I was six years old. My father, despite his background, never forced me to continue. Everything was according to him a matter of breathing, energy and vibration. That’s what made me prefer judo to swimming and basketball that I practiced during my childhood. What did I like? The sensation of freedom when I fight. »

Until he was nineteen, zero pressure. Judo is part of his life, just like school, friends, family, studies, music lessons and choir. It’s in 2019 that everything changes, when he joins Rome and the carabinieri.

For a time in the race for the Paris Games, he eases up when he understands that it won’t be for this time. He takes a step back. Asks himself questions about the meaning of all this. When he decides to come back, his perspective has changed. « I work more in the gym as well as at the dojo. I want to know myself better and listen more to my body and my spirit to make sure I grow each day. »

Third at the Prague European Open then at the Tashkent World Military Championships, fifth at the Tokyo Grand Slam, he is on the train taking him home on December 21, 2024 when he decides to follow on his screen elections for the presidency of the Italian Federation, for which his father is running after sixteen years rich in results and emotions spent at the head of the Russian team. The hostility observed hurts the judoka as much as the son he is to the highest degree. No one is a prophet in his own country, says the adage. The son of one of the most respected coaches on the planet will have felt it in his flesh that evening.

At the start of this new Olympic cycle, he puts down on his roadmap three clear objectives: « appreciate the journey; not lose time on things that have no utility; be myself and express myself. » Injured in February, he has surgery on June 30 for that glenoid labrum that has been bothering him for several seasons, right after a three-day international training camp organized by his father in their Brescia stronghold. « I’m gradually mobilizing my shoulder and not putting pressure on myself to come back » concludes the one who says he’s amazed by the level of Russian Timur Arbuzov, new U81kg world champion, in whom he currently sees « no weak points« .

Paris, February 2nd, 2024. Not far from a perfect day for Faïza Mokdar, who takes on three of the biggest names in the -57 kg category (Brazilian Rafaela Silva then Canadians Jessica Klimkait and Christa Deguchi) to claim the first Grand Slam title of her promising career. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD

Faïza Mokdar, #9 in the U57kg category ranking – Winner in 2024 of the Paris Grand Slam in February, the Zagreb Grand Prix in September and the Champions League in December in Montpellier with PSG Judo, Faïza approaches 2025 with the desire to show her face this time at the major championships and to make a good showing there, in a category where double Olympic medalist Sarah-Léonie Cysique is « only » twenty-seven years old. Fifth this time at the Paris and Tashkent Grand Slams, she reassures herself in February by clinching the French club team championship title, then in May by winning the Astana Grand Slam. Not enough however to be selected individually for the Europeans or the Worlds. Especially since in the meantime the French team has found itself a new promise in the person of Martha Fawaz, her runner-up at the last French championships, gold in turn at the Paris Grand Slam, silver at the Tbilisi one and bronze at the Podgorica Europeans. Severely strangled in the first round of the Budapest Worlds, the latter sees Faïza second Cysique on the mixed team event. Arriving mid-week in Budapest, the Parisian « doesn’t bring back points » against her Korean and Brazilian rivals and, beyond that, doesn’t feel the team dynamic as it emerged from the six Fantastic in the last Olympic final against Japan. Georgian Eteri Liparteliani’s individual title? « Next time, I need to be there » she simply checks off. This gives her time to adjust the copious agenda of this Olympic cycle beginning, between finding bearings with the new tricolor staff and that of a PSG Judo that records at the beginning of July the departure of Damiano Martinuzzi, but also obtaining two capitalizable units of her DES, summer training camps and… « the importance of knowing how to cut off, because the road is long and you have to arrive feeling fresh. »

*Montpellier, November 5th, 2023. With enormous heart, Martti Puumalainen claims the European O100kg title. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD*

Martti Puumalainen, #14 in the O100kg ranking – Interviewed for the first time a month before his thunderous European title in Montpellier in 2023, the Finnish returned empty-handed from his following nine international outings. Worse: his most recent defeat, in the second round of the Budapest World Championships against Korean Min-jong Kim, went viral as the reigning champion’s wrapped kata is a textbook example. A week later, however, he finally managed to break the cycle by becoming World military champion in Warendorf, Germany. A balm for the heart of Slovenian Rok Draksic’s student, who has been able to witness in recent months the level of expectation weighing on a European champion’s shoulders, especially one from a « small » nation and, moreover, in a O100kg category that has become totally wild – and by far one of the most spectacular of these Hungarian World Championships, as illustrated on Judo TV by this comment from Dennis van der Geest, 2005 World champion in the category, about the hellish draw awaiting Russian Inal Tasoev: « He goes from Turoboev who’s four meters tall to Bashaev who’s one meter tall ». Impressed at the World Championships by the victories of Timur Arbuzov, Alice Bellandi and Joan-Benjamin Gaba‘s mentali-Ty pose, July is for him an opportunity to recharge in the fresh air on his gravel bike, around a fishing rod with his compatriot Luukas Saha or behind a lawnmower – « basically, enjoying the Finnish summer ». What’s next? « I haven’t changed my work ethic, » he insists. « I trust the process put in place by Rok. »

*Mister Everywhere. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD*

Paco Lozano – It’s rare for photographers to express themselves other than through their images. With Paco, it’s a bond that goes back several years already. Present at most of the circuit’s major events since the European Championships in Lisbon in 2008, he brings back 35,350 images from the World Championships in Budapest this year and a perspective on the discipline that, once again, isn’t limited to the tatami. Among his big impressions: Italian U78kg Alice Bellandi’s Olympic title-World title double; the composure of the new generation of Russian judoka, not far from the expression « cool as a cucumber » once used by tennis player John McEnroe during the rise of his young compatriot Pete Sampras; Japanese Sanshiro Murao’s well-deserved victory in U90kg (« he should have won the Olympics last year »); the never-failing involvement of his compatriot and elder Kosei Inoue, who hasn’t missed a single fight from the stands « where others spend their time in VIP lounges »; Joan-Benjamin Gaba‘s title which compensates for the mixed impression left by a French women’s team in full transition after the glorious Benboudaoud-Massina years; Georgian Eteri Liparteliani’s domination in the U57kg category, European vice-champion in April, World champion in June and decisive each time in the conquest of mixed team gold (she’s the missing link that « the country of strong men » had been chasing for so long); the mid-championships withdrawal of Israeli athletes, whose second wave of fighters was grounded following Iranian retaliation in the armed conflict opposing the two nations; also the absence of Ukrainians, furious to see Belarus authorized to fight under its own colors; Cuba’s confirmed decline despite -66kg Orlando Polanco’s fine fifth place… As for the long and unusual summer break taken by the circuit, it’s an opportunity for champions to multiply training camps and appearances. « They’re cashing in on their medals and they’re absolutely right to do so. »

*Paris, February 1st, 2025. Beginning of a crescendo of Grand Slam medals in this first semester for Melkia Auchecorne: bronze in Paris, silver in Astana and gold in Dushanbe. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD*

Melkia Auchecorne, #8 in the U63kg ranking – The window of opportunity was unmissable – and that was precisely the problem. Double reigning junior World champion in a category – the U63kg – that has always seen a French woman on an Olympic or World podium since 2011, Melkia Auchecorne owed her first participation in the senior World Championships to the sleight of hand deal made in February with Clarisse Agbégnénou, the latter preferring to commit to the April European Championships for personal agenda reasons, freeing up in return the spot that the Selection Committee had automatically allocated to her for the June World Championships. Third at the Paris Grand Slam, second at Dushanbe and gold at Astana, the youngest member of the French team arrived in Budapest with legitimate ambitions, just like her other national rival Manon Deketer (fifth at the Europeans, winner this season of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, second at Paris and Tbilisi against the two future World finalists, Japanese Haruka Kaju and Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard). After a controlled first round against Venezuelan Anriquelis Barrios, she unfortunately fell in the second round to a double World medalist, Mongolian Enkhriilen Lkagvatogoo, whom she had nevertheless dominated a month earlier in the semifinal of the Kazakhstani Grand Slam. « I’m disappointed because I couldn’t free myself up and I rushed, » she analyzes with a clear head, she whose entourage keeps reminding her that Clarisse Agbégnénou herself only lasted a few seconds against an obscure Thai fighter during her very first senior World championship, in 2010 in Tokyo. Not far from saying that in the heat of the moment all that doesn’t help her much, Benjamin Gury’s protégée prefers to focus on her Political Science studies and on the strange semester that’s opening up – perfect for the veterans who need to pace the tempo but frustrating for young wolves like her who only aspire to turn the tables.

*Podgorica, April 27th, 2025. « *We’re here!* » yells Toma Nikiforov after his Belgium’s unexpected victory over France during the European mixed team championships. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD*

Toma Nikiforov – « It’s weird for me to see him stop, another one. […] Now a family man, all that… Time flies… » That’s part of the message received from Amandine Buchard at the announcement of the Schaerbeek giant’s retirement. Okay with the principle of playing the support game as it was the case in his early days during the World Judo Academy era, we didn’t insist for these first weeks. Priority to family, to his daughters’ school holidays and to the first steps in his new life.

*Paris, August 1st, 2024. Morgane Sellès alongside Zelym Kotsoiev, Olympic champion in the U100kg category for Azerbaijan. ©DR/JudoAKD*

Morgane Sellès – It all started with a long conversation in a corner of the warm-up room at the last Paris Grand Slam, interrupted by the passage and greetings of numerous circuit figures. Encountered until now sometimes with the French team tracksuit then with Kazakhstan’s, the sports physiotherapist has been officiating since spring 2024 under the colors of Azerbaijan. A nation on a roll since its two Olympic titles in Paris with U73kg Hidayat Heydarov and U100kg Zelym Kotsoiev, under the leadership of German Richard Trautmann who seems to have made Carlo Ancelotti’s old adage his own: « The coach’s role is not to reduce talent to adapt it to the team, but to elevate the team to make talent shine. »

This young mother’s life leaves little room for improvisation. Her five-year-old daughter has grown up in the Netherlands so far. And she herself works on her rare free time both for the remote monitoring of her athletes but also for the development that’s close to her heart of a recovery protocol that she intends to see standardized at the country level, and for which she plows through « pages and pages of bibliography. »

The Budapest World Championships? « Paradoxically, that’s where I have the least work, all things being equal, of course. » A transition competition after the Parisian festivities and while waiting for those of 2026 in… Baku, which won’t fail to appeal to patriotic feelings. This week ends with three medals and the unexpected fifth place of veteran Ushangi Kokauri, not seen at this level since his silver medal at home in 2018. For superstar Hidayat Heydarov, author of the Europe-Worlds-Olympics triple in 2024, he now has to manage the weight of expectations from a people he’s accustomed to stratospheric standards. His first-round failure is a lesson but also a reminder. Whatever the number of requests now, he knows that the place where he feels best is still the mat.

Same for Zelym Kotsoiev. Also holder of Olympic and World titles, it’s through pride that he went to claim bronze this time, making former tennis player Martina Navratilova’s maxim his own: « A champion is recognized by their ability to win even when they’re not playing well. » Another source of pride for the physiotherapist: the U90kg Eljan Hajiyev’s medal. Operated on for shoulder and cruciate ligaments after the Olympics, he’s proof that when rehabilitation is well conducted, results come. « In fifteen years working as a physiotherapist, I’ve never seen someone come back so quickly to such a level after two major injuries like that. When you’re serious about your rehabilitation, you can perform again higher than the level you had before. »

After a summer between the Netherlands, Baku, a mountain training camp and another in Brazil, the big autumn objective will be the Islamic Games in Saudi Arabia. A deadline perceived in these latitudes as « as important as the World Championships. »

*Podgorica, April 23rd, 2025. Daikii Bouba European champion in -66 kg. Simply as that. ©Paco Lozano/JudoAKD*

Daikii Bouba, #9 in the U66kg ranking – He was one of the three from AJA Paris XX encountered at the end of December 2023 at the Italian training camp in Bardonecchia, with -60kg Maxime Merlin and -73kg Benjamin Axus. Already twenty-seven at the time and with the intimate conviction that his story hadn’t begun yet, despite a fifth place three weeks earlier at the Tokyo Grand Slam and the U66kg Olympic starter spot already attributed to Walide Khyar, whom he’s known « since youth level » and with whom he maintains « positive competition ». Present in the stands at the Paris Olympics to encourage his teammates – and cross paths with a discreet spectator named Inal Tasoev -, he continues in autumn the beautiful dynamic seen in spring (silver medalist chronologically at the Baku then Abu Dhabi Grand Slams). In the first half of 2025, same again: finalist at the Paris Grand Slam, he delivers much more than the competition of a lifetime at the Podgorica Europeans, giving the impression of moving in slow motion and in control against rivals in overdrive. A posture of calm big brother and antihero confirmed by the measured tone of interviews scattered here and there in the following weeks, vaguely recalling those long palavers back home, in the shade of the mango tree and between two teas heated on the coal stove. Soft voice, introspective words, his truths are those of a twenty-nine-year-old newbie – and journalistically it’s a fountain of youth in this era rich in language elements recognizable from miles around. A tone in keeping with the vow of modesty to which the etymology of a first name from that north of Cameroon where he draws part of his roots refers. Beaten in the third round of the last two World Championships, his momentum of recent months makes him nurture legitimate hopes as the Budapest deadline approaches. He’s unfortunately countered right from the start in golden score by Mongolian-naturalized Emirati Narmandakh Bayanmunkh. His retrospective analysis is in his image, lucid and demanding: « It was decided before, in the preparation. After my European title, I felt great fatigue. Unconsciously, I started postponing boxes that I usually tick. For example, I skipped a session with my mental trainer. Ordinarily too, I reduce screen exposure to read more quietly as deadlines approach. This time I didn’t do it. It’s annoying because my entourage nevertheless gave me warnings and then two of the guys on the podium, I beat them recently – including the Japanese World champion. » In his defense, the 2021 French champion had been occupied since last September with side preparations. On July 12th, the day of his teammate Amandine Buchard‘s thirtieth birthday, he was at a wedding in Tours – and not just any wedding: his own. There are seasons like that, where dark days turn to bright nights. – All quotes collected by Anthony Diao. Opening montage: ©Peyo Diao-Thomé/JudoAKD.