Gennaro Pirelli of Italy did not even know if he was able to compete at the European Judo Championships Seniors 2026 Tbilisi and now he leaves with his first senior continent gold medal.
“I am very, very happy,” Pirelli said. “I still have to realise it because I come from a rather bad time,” he added. He came off injury and had recently lost a family member.
In spite of everything, Pirelli’s determination was stronger than ever. “The last two editions [of the European Championships] I finished third twice in a row and today I wanted to come here with that hunger, with that anger to win the gold medal,” he shared.
“Before going out I repeated to myself to take it fight by fight, until death because there is no pool, there is no draw, you have to get on the tatami and fight until your last breath.”
In his -100kg final, Pirelli was up against Dutchman, Simeon Catharina, who was significantly taller than him but that did not really matter to the Italian.
“I’m one of the shortest [in my category] but it has been like this since I was a child, so I got used to that. The final was the hardest for me in terms of emotions because I didn’t want to make mistakes, I wanted to win at all costs, and fortunately, I did it.
“Today I think I have shown first of all to myself and to those who believe me that if you have so much anger, so much heart, you can go all the way,” he noted. “Even if I had not won today, I would not have had any regrets as I pushed 100% in every contest.”
Pirelli gave Italy his second gold medal of the day after Alice Bellandi had emerged victorious in the women’s -78kg. “It was great to see a teammate of mine winning the European title,” the 25-year-old said. “I was sure she would win it but this motivated me even more before going up.”
Author: Tatjana Flade