Tina Trstenjak is sensational judoka. She has gold medlas from European Championships, World Championships and the Olympic Games.
The road to this goal was not always a walk in the park and it is not over yet.
JudoInside’s Diana Suess got to know her a bit better. In a conversation with the popular web portal, the exceptional and humble judoka from Slovenia spoke about the beginning of her career, her way to Olympic gold, the challenges of the upcoming games and last year’s World Championships.
Analyze, adapt, overcome
“In September 2010 I stopped doing Judo and started again in January 2011. The switch from juniors to seniors was hard for me because in juniors I made the podium at almost every competition and then I came to the seniors and I couldn’t win any match and I had lots of problems with cutting weight for the U57kg category. So, I just stopped doing Judo.”
“When I started again, I needed to change my fighting style because inn the U63kg category a lot of girls are taller than me. But one of my qualities is that I’m fast and with that I try to be better than others.”
I do analyze my opponents but not too much. I don’t want to think about Judo all the time. I think I know my opponents very well because we do Training Camps together and also competitions. There are just small things that can change the match and you need to be clever and expect some things.”
It’s all about fighting for it
“Last year’s World Championships were good until semifinal. I made a mistake and couldn’t fight for the bronze medal. That was frustrating and made me extremely sad, I needed a lot of time to let it go. A medal at the World Championships is always good no matter the color. Obviously, Gold is the best but even if it’s a bronze medal it’s top. I was happy about every medal I got but the last World Championships were different because I actually didn’t lose the fight for the third place and that’s why I was so upset.”
“I will try to reach more”
“After the semifinal of the Rio Olympics I was happy but, in that time, I didn’t understand that I was in the final of the Olympics Games. For me it was like a normal competition and I was very focused. I thought from fight to fight, I even remember how focused I was in the break before the final. I just thought about the upcoming fight and prepared – it was no big deal.”
