Polish coach Robert Krawczyk will be judo coach in Austria. Krawczyk who was the 2007 European Champion as an athletes and a bronze medallist at the 2003 World Championships had a successful career as a coach. He successfully worked in Belgium for many years and led Belgian Dirk Van Tichelt to Olympic bronze in Rio in 2016. Krawcyk was fifth at the 2004 Olympics. As a coach he also won the European title in 2021 with Beata Pacut, reports Judo Inside.
The Austrian Judo Association continues to upgrade. After the commitment of Olympic champion Yvonne Bönisch at the beginning of 2021 and young coach Felipe Kitadai (BRA, Olympic bronze medalist 2012, in Judo Austria services since March 2022), Austrian Judo President Martin Poiger and Sports Director Markus Moser were able to contract a third international top coach.
The 44-year-old Krawczyk was most recently working on his doctorate in sports science in Poland. He will start working for the ÖJV at the beginning of May, i.e. in good time before the start of the Olympic qualification for Paris 2024 in June.
“Robert Krawczyk is considered an absolute top coach, we could not have wished for a better person in this role. His successes in Belgium speak for themselves,” says Martin Poiger. “The original plan was to hire a new national coach at the beginning of the year. But if you can get one like Robert, it’s worth the wait. He still wanted to finish his work at the university in Gdansk,” confirms sporting director Markus Moser.
“Yvonne Bönisch has done an impressive job as head coach in the last few months. The Olympic successes of Polleres and Borchashvili speak for themselves. It appeals to me to be able to work in this team and I’m sure that I can contribute to further successes and learn a lot from Yvonne,” says Robert Krawczyk happily. “I really wanted to finish my five-year apprenticeship. Now I’m ready for a new task.” So far, his experiences with Austria have been limited. “I was at a training camp in Mittersill for many years, I fought a few fights against Patrick Reiter in the category up to 81 kg. My last placing as an active player was in Oberwart in 2012. I only know the current top athletes by sight.”
