Christa Deguchi is back, changed ambition, goal of Paris 2024

The Deguchi brothers attended national team trainings in Montreal before flying to Western Canada to hug their paternal grandmother in Winnipeg.

Christa rediscovered the taste for judo after the big crash in 2021 after her non -qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Instead, Jessica Klimkait represented Canada at 57 kg, and she won a bronze medal.

It was very difficult then. I haven’t watched the Olympics, and I haven’t been able to do judo in two or three monthshe says.

This long silence can lead to a desire to turn the page and do something else with his life. But not.

I realized I wanted to do judo, that I missed judo, and here I am. The Olympic Games have long been my dream, he recalled. I didn’t want to give up judo before knowing what it felt like to be in the Games, in Olympic tatami.

No need to ask her what her ultimate goal is, she announces it straight away.

The main purpose of this trip was to prepare me for Parisno doubt he said.

I want to face other judokas to see where I am physically and so we can prepare a better training plan for me in Japan.

Christa Deguchi also wants to know more about the goals of the new national coach, Antoine Valois-Fortier.

Antoine is our new coach and I want to talk more about what I should do nowhe added.

For Valois-Fortier, he first had to find his bearings in the tatami and in training.

Christa will return from a long hiatus after the summer of 2021. Extremely frustrated not to qualify for Tokyo, she will need to gradually regain her degree.explanation of former judoka.

I will accompany him to Budapest for the Grand Slam. Until then, he will continue his fitness at home in Japanhe says.

This grand slam in Hungary in July will allow Valois-Fortier to see the level of the 26-year-old judoka and adjust goals as needed.

Judo Canada clearly gives him all the time he needs to regain his form, and still allows him to continue to live in his native Japan and practice there on his own, without supervision. A risky bet.

It’s a very special way of doing things, but it suits him. Japanese judoka will be world champion in 2019, and all hopes are high for the Tokyo Games.

I won the 2019 worlds, and I thought I could go to the Olympics, but it didn’t go through, he coldly explains. I learned that there was no guarantee that I would be number 1.

I think I need to work harder. I haven’t done enough for Tokyo yet.

This unqualification made him think, and he decided to change his approach to competitions.

For Paris, I want to focus more on each match. I think I’m too ahead of myself (in 2021). Next time I have to be more careful and fight one by one.

” I now know what to lose. Now I want to know what it feels like to win. “

To participate in the 2024 Games, she will once again try to dismiss Jessica Klimkait of Ontario, who became a favorite after her world title in 2021 and her Olympic medal.

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In the grand slam in Antalya, Turkey in early April, Klimkait won, Deguchi lost in the semifinals and in their bronze medal fight. He finished 5th. They did not quarrel.

My judo is not the best. But mentally, it comes back, Deguchi says. This is a good start. I didn’t win a medal, but it was a good start. That’s worth it.

Klimkait has a rare talent, a set of grips at his disposal, an attack style. Deguchi has a more traditional, very Japanese style of judo. So how will he defeat Klimkait?

” This is a difficult question. I think I have to fight. I had to do what I had to do, no matter who was in front or what was going on around. “

The answer is cautious. There is no need to stir up rivalry.

In the footsteps of the big sister

Christa’s character strength impresses her younger sister, Kelly, three years younger than her. The latter is resistant in the 52 kg category. It is thriving all over the world.

Formerly Kelly Taylor, Kelly took her mother’s name, Deguchi, the name listed on her Japanese passport.

I’m really proud of Christa. He was very strong, and he taught me a lot. We train together.

My goal is to be like him, to be better than him, he says confidently. So good to be able to train with him now.

They do not have the same physiognomy. Kelly is taller and thinner, and she is currently more reserved than her older sister. But he does not lack ambition.

Kelly Deguchi also wants to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

It will be fun for the whole familyChrista mentions.

I need to win a grand slam first before thinking about Parishe said cautiously.

Meanwhile, he moves forward by listening to his older sister’s advice in training, and sometimes he tries to challenge her.

We are not competing with each other. But in training I want to beat him and sometimes I canKelly finished laughing.

And from afar, Christa, hearing her sister, said with a smile: When he beats me because I let him!

The Deguchi brothers are clearly accomplices. They are there for each other in good and bad times. And there will be some from here at the Paris Games.