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Antoine Valois-Fortier via stepping stone Guadalajara to Rio

Antoine Valois-Fortier via stepping stone Guadalajara to Rio

24 May 2016 20:40
JudoHeroes

The U81kg is one of the most competitive weight categories in the world. At the IJF Masters in Guadalajara Canadian Antoine Valois-Fortier is the highest seeded athlete. Valois-Fortier is the captain of the Canadian team having won a bronze medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012.

How is it going with the Canadian trailblazer after his first PanAm Games victory, but also after a few early losses in Paris and Düsseldorf?

VF:“I’m good! I think I started the year thinking too much about what I need to do everyday to make sure I will be ready. I think I was more relaxed at the Panam Games in April and I was able to express my real potential. I hope I can do it again this weekend.”

At the World Championships in 2014 the Canadian could show he was not a one-day fly, he took silver in Chelyabinsk and in 2015 he won bronze at the World Championships in Astana. So Valois-Fortier proved to be able to peak when he needs to do it. Do the the Masters fit in his peaking moments?

VF: “The IJF Masters is just another step in the preparation towards Rio. I did not come to lose, but it’s not one of my main focus this year.”

The category U81kg is always one of the best, or most competitive, categories but at the Masters guys like Tchrikishvili and Nagase aren’t fighting in Guadalajara, nor is Ivanov and Russians Khalmurzaev and Nifontov. Valois-Fortier is seeded first, does that trigger an expectation?

VF: “I don’t like to look at the ranking so much. I find it puts more pressure on me than anything else. Anyway I would like to step on the podium this weekend. I never won a medal at the Masters and I hope it can be a first.”

In 2012 V-F won two silver medals and around this time in May he took a gold medal at the European Cup in Orenburg, not the highest ranked event, but suddenly there was that blinking bronze medal in August in London. For the first time for Canada since 2000 a medal again. What was the impact?

VF: “London helped me get some personal sponsors but judo in Canada is not so popular so it did not change much financially for me. I always enjoyed the athlete life, I think it's the best and I hope I can do it for many more years! But to the Federation it helped.  In Canada every federation get money if they win an Olympic medal, so for judo Canada I think it helped them to get a bit more money to develop future players. So I think Canada will be very dangerous at the Games in Rio. We have a very young team full of very strong hungry fighter. I think every athlete on the team has a chance to surprise a lot of people on their day.” 

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