Meet SA’s Olympic Judo star
SA’s judo’s hopes will be pinned on one man as Zack Piontek will realise his lifetime dream of becoming an Olympian as Rio beckons.
|||Johannesburg - South African judo’s hopes will be pinned on one man as Zack Piontek will realise his lifetime dream of becoming an Olympian as Rio de Janeiro beckons.
The Commonwealth gold medallist in the under-90kg category knows full well the odds are stacked firmly against him but this would not deter him from dreaming of silverware.
“If you consider statistics, my chances are slim, but realistically if I have a good day with a good draw I can make a medal final,” Piontek said.
“Not necessarily win a medal but a medal final, that is my potential and it depends on how mentally strong I am, and how I feel.
“Everybody is training hard and everybody is putting in everything they have, so it is about how your mind is and how you feel on the day.”
Ranked 23rd in the world in his weight class, Piontek needed to be among the top 22 judokas to qualify for the Games.
However, every country is allowed only one player per country which moves Piontek up to 18th place which is the highest senior ranking ever by a South African.
Piontek’s professional career was slow to take off as he had to live in the shadow of Patrick Trezise, who represented South Africa at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
It was only when Trezise retired from judo in 2012 that Piontek started moving up the world rankings.
“My breakthrough was in 2014 when I won the Commonwealth Games title, and I started moving in the right direction,” Piontek said.
“I started fighting better opposition and since then I started beating them since 2014.”
Trezise’s influence proved to be essential in Piontek’s development as he supplied rare quality training before he retired from the sport.
“He kept me out of the team for two years of my senior cycle where I couldn’t beat him but that was a privilege for me because I could train with him for four to five years,” Piontek said.
“During that time he could transfer that knowledge to me and when he retired in 2012 I took the mantle of the 90kg division.”
Piontek trains at Tuks/HPC under former Bulgarian Olympian Nikola Filipov, who trained South African judokas to the last three Games.
Filipov’s players include Trezise at the 2008 Games and Jacques van Zyl at the previous global showpiece in London 2012.
Judo follows a knock-out format where the winner of each round will advance to the next round until the gold-medal contest between the two undefeated finalists.
Two ‘repechage’ fights between the two defeated quarter-finalists takes place where the winners will take on the two losers from the semi-finals competing for the two bronze medals.
Filipov said experienced had taught him that even the lowest qualifier in judo could go on to become an Olympic champion which bodes well for Piontek.
“I’ve been to many Olympics, and in this particular day that you fifth, anything is possible,” Filipov said.
“I’ve seen with my eyes a 34-year-old man qualify through continental quota and win the gold medal without anybody stopping him. Technically and physically these guys are very close.”
Piontek still has a few training camps lined up before the Olympics Games, first going to Croatia ahead of a tournament in Budapest, a seven-day camp in Spain before adding the finishing touches back in South Africa.
Independent Media