In a sport built on centuries of tradition, Belgian kata official and IT manager Dimitri Nemegaire spends his days focused on the future.
Nemegaire entered the discipline at just fifteen years old after earning his Dan grades early, quickly immersing himself in a community that would go on to shape both his career and his life.
“It all really began when I was 15, when I earned my 1st Dan,” Nemegaire told the EJU ahead of the upcoming 2026 European Judo Championships Kata, from 16 – 17 May 2026 in Sarajevo. “That’s when I started to truly appreciate the precision of kata, even though, like many others, I initially focused on Shiai. Kata quickly became my life.”
Nemegaire said that he lived his competitive career “to the fullest”, complete with all the adrenaline and demands that come with the sport. “But once that chapter was closed, my desire to pass on and deepen my understanding of the discipline naturally brought me back to kata,” he said.
That’s when his path crossed with the late Michel Kozlowski, a Belgian kata pioneer, about whom Nemegaire speaks with deep admiration. “My late friend Michel Kozlowski was more than a mentor,” he says. “He was a visionary. Together, we were passionate, Michel from the very beginning of kata’s development in Europe, and I for Enbu Judo and its development. We worked hard to advance this practice, to give it the structure and recognition it deserves. Michel left us two years ago now, but the momentum we created together is still here. I have been dedicated to continuing his legacy.”
That legacy now lives not only on the tatami, but through the systems helping reshape how kata is understood across Europe. Nemegaire himself is in charge of the Kata judges in Belgium, focusing on those who are actually evaluating Kata.
“My goal is to ensure impartiality, technical rigor, and the training of our officials so that the quality of judging matches the judokas’ dedication. It is a mission of precision, a bit like a return to my roots, the transition from the fighter’s passion to the expert’s wisdom.”
In pursuit of that mission, Nemegaire and his colleagues have developed an ecosystem designed to modernise the way kata is scored, analysed, and taught.
The tools range from live scoring systems and athlete feedback platforms to educational programs for future judges, all built around one central goal: to make Kata evaluation clear, fair and transparent. The general audience sometimes struggles to see the logic behind the scores, he added. “That is why we work so hard to explain the core principles. Our tools exist to make every movement transparent and clear for everyone.”
By making Kata more accessible and understandable, hopefully new audiences can fall in love with the beauty and precision of the sport, too.
“I admire the perfect balance between technical precision and real judo,” he says. “But more importantly, it’s the sharing of experience with my peers. For me, the ‘Kata Family’ is where the heart of judo truly beats.”
Nemegaire also points to reigning Ju no Kata European champions and world ranking leaders Giovanni and Angelica Tarabelli as examples of what the discipline represents at its best.
“They represent the soul of judo,” he says. “Kindness, long-term mastery, and precision.”
During the 2026 Kata European Judo Championships in Sarajevo, Nemegaire is “waiting for those ‘Wow’ moments that leave us speechless. Performances that will stay in our memories forever.”
Follow the 2026 European Kata Championships on JudoTV.com.
Author: Grace Goulding