When Joan-Benjamin GABA took each step closer to the Olympic final in Paris 2024, the hysteria grew. Before this event, he was not considered to be close to the podium given the extraordinary level of his opponents. Before that event, he had in fact take a European Championship bronze, but it was his only major medal among a sea of 7th place finishes on the IJF World Judo Tour.
In April, he defended his Olympic success, proving that it wasn’t simply a fluke, by again placing himself on the European Championship podium, and today, claimed a fourth major medal.. and a world title. Simply sensational. So what is his super power on a championship stage?
It’s a great pleasure, I trained really hard for the Olympic Games, I didn’t feel like it worked until the last step, now today, everything worked perfectly and it felt amazing. I think judo is a fighting sport and I think that the mental dimension of it is really, super important, and my mentality is very strong, I train it a lot so when I arrive to competition, I’m just ready.
As if that special aspect wasn’t enough, it would appear that Gaba could continue to fight forever without losing steam,
I am trained for that!!! My super power for golden score is that I am super physical condition! I know that if I get in to the golden score, the other one will get tired before me.
The French men have had quite the week, with Romain VALADIER PICARD taking a silver medal in the -60kg category, and now Gaba becoming World Champion, and when asked who, aside from Teddy RINER of course, who the last men’s World Champion was, he didn’t miss a step before claiming,
Loic PIETRI!
Thinking back through his final contest, Gaba felt more determined than ever and was cool as he stepped toward the tatami.
I felt really good during the final and I put everything I had in to that last attack and it felt so good. It was the same tactic I applied against ABE Hifumi in the Olympic Games and ever since I’ve been practicing it.
Gaba may have been cool and focussed walking on to the tatami, but the man that left was very different…
My celebrations were big, because what I did was exceptional. I am not only celebrating myself, but also my club, training partners, family, everyone who was involved in that result.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen