This surprising pre-fight routine intrigued more than one. Rightly or wrongly, the coach would have simply respected the wishes of the judokate Martyna Trajdos.
The coach of the German sportswoman used slaps and shoves to motivate Martyna Trajdos, before she entered the tatami for her round of 16 in -63kg, this Tuesday, July 27, 2021.
A viral video on social media has appeared on how the coach encourages judokate. This puzzling rite will not have benefited the sportswoman, who lost the fight against the Hungarian Szofi Ozbas. The gold medal for the discipline was also won by the French Clarisse Agbégnénou.
Is this still justifiable today?
According to an article published in 2015 in the Journal of Social Sciences, “Physical pain is no longer so much the object of valuation outside specific time-spaces such as war or sport”. This was well proven during the Tokyo Olympics: this scene showed that violence was still perceived as “positive” in a sporting context. Even if this routine was done at the request of the judokate to motivate herself before the fight, can we still condone such physical contact as being “necessary”?
When you want to perform in the sports world, pain is an unavoidable phenomenon that you must face. The article in the Revue des Sciences Sociales, “Sports exercise: between pain and pleasure”, suggests that “Resistance to pain is often perceived as the pledge of a bravery capable of conferring on the one who tests it an (alleged) exceptional disposition and consubstantial with the status of accomplished athlete and recognized in the group”. The internalization of pain is therefore considered a rite of passage in the world of “grown-ups”.
However, athletes are already under great pressure. Indeed, the gymnast Simone Biles gave up the competition during the gymnastics events of the Olympic Games, Tuesday July 27, 2021. In an Instagram post, she shared the feeling of having “sometimes the impression of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders “. Brutalization for motivation could only be more problematic for the mental health of the competitors.
The International Judo Federation did not appreciate the behavior of the coach. On Wednesday July 28, 2021, the latter was called to order according to the Huffington Post. Thus, the instance said in a tweet that it had sent “A serious official warning to the attention of the German coach, regarding the bad behavior he exhibited during the competition”. She adds that “Judo is an educational sport and as such cannot tolerate such behavior, which goes against the moral code of judo”.