During the European Youth Olympic Festival 2025, we have had some special guests in the crowd coming to support their teams and families including Tara BABULFATH (SWE), Guillaume CHAINE (FRA) and Distria KRASNIQI (KOS), but after the success of Serbia’s Boris JANKOVIC in the -66kg category, we managed to speak to one of their nations superstars, Aleksandar KUKOLJ.
Is it a little nicer attending events when you don’t have to compete?
Its actually a little bit more stressful watching than it is fighting, but I’ve always felt like this, even when I was much younger, anyone who is close to me, my friends, when I don’t have control it’s hard, but when they’re doing so good, it makes it a little easier.
Boris JANKOVIC took the gold medal for Serbia on day two of the European Youth Olympic Festival, and following an interview with the podium-topper, he graciously gave credit to his supporters and coach, saying that without them he couldn’t have done it. Kukolj responded,
He is such a modest guy, he did the whole job which is the simple truth. It was easy for us all to come, the drive isn’t so long for us so it was nice to be able to come and show him and the team our support, I came with his brother yesterday, but on the mat, it’s all on you.
So what about Kukolj’s experience as a young athlete? Is it all coming flooding back when he attends major events such as this?
It was a long time ago! Fifteen years, maybe more, in that period I remember it stopped being only ‘fun’, and I started to understand it deeper and the stakes involved. I realised I could put a lot of effort in to it and maybe it could be something like a career, at that time I didn’t know what I was made of, but in that period, I wanted to test myself.
The support for Team Serbia in judo is arguably one of the best, and in this event, they were able to welcome numerous members of their Olympic Committee who wanted to see Jankovic perform. This is only down to the success of the team that have come before and accomplished so much, is this success driving judo back home in Serbia?
Oh 100%, let’s say for the past decade, I was in the Olympics in 2016, I didn’t compete in London but I felt ready, then after 2016 I took the European medal, then Majdov [Nemanja] came and a few women, now we have strong momentum. Judo is the type of sport you really need to understand the rules to enjoy it, and for it to be fun and if you don’t have someone to follow and be emotionally invested in, it makes it hard to stay interested, especially when you can follow simpler sports. Now we have many athletes that you can follow in the World Championships and not just one or two fights. Now we see in the dojos, new clubs are opening constantly, its great to see so many kids doing judo.
Though the question arises, he is not done yet! We last saw Kukolj compete in the 2025 European Championships,
I know the end is near, but I still enjoy it, I like to have fun, I haven’t made any announcement, and I don’t even know if I would. I want to just flow smoothly from one thing to another; I never want to just put an end to something. Then for these kids, it’s nice for to be involved, only as a genuine support, there are no interests except emotional. I’m happy when they’re performing well and if they have any problems I’m able to help with, of course I will, that goes for coaches and kids. I want to be someone they know they can count on, and not just these younger kids, but the current top team too, I’m still much older than them!
What of the Jankovic’s coach, Djordje TOMIC?
The national team coach, he is three years older than me and we were in the national team together, when I first came to train with him, I was 17 years old, he was 20 and yeah he really beat me up, he looked exactly the same as he does now, I was this skinny kid with a huge head, it was a good lesson for me and two years after I became national champion at -81kg, he was -73kg and we were a really good team, for two-three years in a row we won the national championships team event.
Once he decided to chase the big medals and became a coach, he went to my first club because we had a good connection, and he started with these kids when they were six years old, now they’re cadets, he has juniors too, with World and European titles, medals, so you see how great a job he is doing. He has proven he can take a kid to a successful cadet, and it’s not just about winning, they have diversified judo, they have good tactics, psychologically they’re strong, and soon they will be moving to junior and seniors so new challenges will come. I hope I can be of some help at this point.
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