After one gold medal was already secured by Rza KHALILLA (AZE) in the -50kg category, Gulshan HUSEYNOVA wanted to add to the tally of her country and quickly accomplished this in her final against Yuval GABAY (ISR). Both athletes had been speedy in their successes in the European Youth Olympic Festival, but in the final, it was an early exchange sumi gaeshi that brought Huseynova the gold medal.
I am very happy because my training before this Festival we trained hard, and my work brought me to the final and a gold medal. Before I competed, I told myself, I have trust in me, and before I’ve lost to this athlete, Gabay, in Croatia, but now before the festival I said to myself I really have have trust in what I can do.
This trust of course brought her the ultimate goal, but it was a tough preparation, as for so many at this age,
So now I still attend school but I want to train so much, sometimes people are training up to three times a day. It’s hard to find the time.
It’s a huge commitment, and it is around this age that many judoka choose alternative careers, so why is this passion so important to Huseynova and what makes judo the dream?
I started when I was five years old, my parents took me, also my brother was wrestling and doing judo. Now, I am training in Baku, but I am from Ganja, it’s another big city in Azerbaijan. Slowly, step by step, I was doing judo and when I started winning more and more, my parents, they really supported me. Really I just love to do judo, it is my life now.
Of course, the love comes with great dreams which include travelling to Japan one day, where her favourite judoka, ABE Uta trains!
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen