Sometimes the switch involves a lot of acrimony, such as the case of Alice Schlesinger of Israel. She had a bitter dispute with her country’s judo federation, which she claimed favoured her rival, World Champion Yarden Gerbi. Because her mother is English, Schlesinger was able to get British citizenship and fought for Great Britain in Rio.
Speaking of Israel, it has taken on -48kg fighter Amelie Rosseneu of Belgium. In contrast to Schlesinger’s case, Rosseneu says that she was treated well by her federation and that her move was prompted purely by personal reasons as she wanted to be with her partner Roni Schwartz who competes for Israeli at -52kg.
Belgium had in the past also had an import in the form of the Dutch player, Elco van der Geest, whose greatest claim to fame was throwing Japan’s Kosei Inoue for ippon in the 2004 Athens Olympics. In
2009, he switched to Belgium as his rival Hank Grol had been selected to represent Holland in the 2009 World Championships in Rotterdam. The Dutch federation seemed to have made the right choice as Grol would go on to win a silver medal at in Rotterdam while van der Geest crashed out in the second round. However, van der Geest got his revenge the following year, defeating none other than Grol in the final of the 2010 European Championships in Vienna.
If the IJF had the “Gutsiest Switch” award, it has to go Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh of Mongolia who made the switch to Kazakhstan in 2015 after it was clear that the -48kg spot on the Mongolian team would go to former World Champion Urantsetseg Munkhbat. That move cost Galbadrakh all her ranking points, which she had to rebuild from scratch. She would eventually not only qualified for Rio 2016 but would actually return with a bronze
The Switch
Text: Hans van Essen & Oon Yeoh
Pics: David Finch, Judophotos.com
Sergiu Toma (UAE)
Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh (KAZ)
Taciana Lima (GBS)