A força da equipa

The Magic of Teams

It is obvious that, in competition, judoka do not step onto the tatami together. A judo contest is between two athletes and the winner advances to the next round. For seven days in Baku, we watched the new world champions emerge one by one. Judo is not football and certainly not basketball. And yet… When the mixed team day arrives, a different atmosphere takes hold of the arena. There is more noise, more exchange, sometimes more fervour. The athletes are no longer fighting only for themselves; they are fighting for one another, for the team. Suddenly, the result of one contest can have a direct impact on everyone. That changes everything. The team’s journey brings the group together around a shared goal. On the tatami, there is no world or Olympic champion, no winner of a World Judo Tour event. There are athletes contributing their part to a collective effort. When the chemistry comes together, it can carry a team beyond what the line-up on paper might suggest. We see it at every team competition. A team considered weaker can find its rhythm and overturn the predictions. We remember France’s victories over Japan at the Tokyo and Paris Olympic Games. More recently, Georgia’s remarka…