After winning gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Michaela Whitebooi has set herself the challenge: to be at her best every time she competes.
This is why she opts not to compete at next month’s Judo World Championships in Uzbekistan.
The past weekend the Tuks judoka competed at the Riccione European Open Tournament in Italy. She lost in her first fight against France’s Laura Espadinha. That, according to her, was a reality check.
“It made me realise that I am not near the form I need to be to compete at a World Championship. I need more specific training to ensure that I am more competitive. So I decided to come back to South Africa.
“I know I was quoted in a newspaper article that I withdrew from the South African team because of a lack of funding. It is not the whole story. I raised questions about why I got to pay for my own expenses to compete at a World Championships. At a rough estimate, it would cost me around about R50 000.
“I got sponsors who will pay for me to compete at Worlds. But I got to be fair to them and myself. What is the purpose of going to a championship when you know there is a real chance of losing your first fight? It boils down to a waste of money and time.
“I need to improve my world ranking because if I don’t, the same thing that happened during last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games will happen again and again. I will end up fighting the top contenders every time in my first fight. But if I can improve my rankings, it could happen that I will fight weaker opponents at first.
“So the goal now is to compete in international tournaments after the World Championships where I can win and gain points. I can promise I will not compete when I feel I am not at my best. My body will tell me when I am ready to do so.
“From now up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, it is going to be essential to make every opportunity I get to compete internationally count.”
