There is lots of ice hockey in Finland but what about judo? For decades, nobody in Finland paid
much attention to judo. That has changed. Not only in Finland but in the world people are
looking at Finnish judoka that have been rising to prominence.
Luukas Saha is a world bronze medallist and just took silver at the European Judo Championships Seniors Tbilisi 2026. Finland also boasts a European U23 Champion with Louna-Lumia Seikkula as well as a European Junior Champion and medalist in Pihla Salonen. All these results started coming in after the Finnish Judo Federation brought on Rok Draksic as head coach five years ago.
The former European Champion and Olympian from Slovenia had started coaching not long before that but had already produced good results with his athletes. “I saw this as an opportunity to prove myself with a federation that was not very successful. I wanted to create a good story for the future,” he said about moving to Finland.
Said and done.
In Finland, Draksic started by building a professional system for the sport. “First, we got all the best players together so that they could train together. At this time, the new Olympic Centre was built in Helsinki, and we could move there. This was also a very important part.”
Before, everything was spread out, there were two athletes in this club, three athletes there and they didn’t train together. They even went to an event at different times but now we built a team,” Draksic explained.
He told the Finnish Judo Federation that he needed some time, and the patience paid off. “One year is not enough, we need two or three years, because the level was so low. Then after three years, the results started to come,” Draksic noted. “The discipline is a bit different from what it was before. Before, judo was maybe more a hobby for them but now they really can see it as a real sport.”
With the results, the interest grew. “Before we were one of the worst summer sports and now we are maybe among the top five summer sports in Finland,” Draksic observed. “This really gives us recognition.”
There are about 5,000 active judoka in Finland, but the numbers are growing as is the visibility of the sport. For the first time, the European Championship was shown live on TV and Finnish media travelled to Tbilisi as Draksic pointed out. “This shows us that they feel the interest for our sport.”
Now about 30 to 40 athletes train on a regular base in the Olympic Sport Center. “Now we can’t even accommodate everybody that would like to come,” Draksic said. “A few weeks ago we had a national camp and not enough place for everyone who wanted to join.”
The long-term goal is obviously the Los Angeles Olympic Games 2028. There is now a top team of eight to nine athletes which is reviewed every six months. From this pool, the competitors for high-level events are selected and the perspective is getting them to Los Angeles in two years. About half of this group are women.
The plan for the Paris Olympic Games 2024 was to qualify two athletes, which Finland did but now the ambitions are getting higher. “The mistake for Paris that we never put in our strategy, that we want a medal,” Draksic said. “Now it’s clear, the medal is in our strategy and it is also something our athletes wish. We now have this goal. When we made our strategy, we wanted three athletes to qualify for LA but I’m quite confident we will exceed this goal. I think we can have four to five players in 2028.”
Meanwhile Draksic has settled in well in his new home in Finland. “It’s cold and dark in the winter but I moved with my wife and my son was born in Finland. He speaks very good Finnish now and my Finnish is improving daily. As a family, we are enjoying our life in Finland.”
Author: Tatjana Flade