Olympic year 2016 starts with OTC in Mittersill

This week the traditional start of the season will take place with the opening of the Olympic Training Centre in Mittersill. The OTC will host about 880 participants from 50 nations of all continents. The Austrian Judo Federation is the proud organizer of the most important and successful training camp in the world. Most athletes will be present in the Austrian mountains.

A huge team of about 135 athletes and coaches from Germany will pass the German boarder to train with the opponents from The Netherlands (71 people), Hungary  (56), Russia (39), France (38), Czech Republic  and Azerbaijan (37) and obviously a big team from Austria with 70 judoka and 15 coaches.

In 2016 the Olympic Games will be held in 214 days with judo in the first week of the program. This year there will be six OTC’s (of in total 8) in advance of the Olympic Games with the last one in Porec, Croatia during the Judo Festival.

Among the competitors an estimate of 69 athletes will get support from the EJU due to their status at the World Ranking or coming from a smaller judo nations.

Among the participants World Champions finalist like Mikhail Pulyaev, Kirill Denisov, Karl-Richard Frey, Maria Bernabeu and Ana Velensek.

Olympic medallists with the likes of Gemma Gibbons, Miklos Ungvari, Eva Csernoviczki, Tagir Khaibulaev,  Charline van Snick, Giulia Quintavalle (2008), Henk Grol, Automne Pavia and some of the World Ranking leaders like Kim Polling, Georgii Zantaraia and of course Tina Trstenjak, the current World Champion from Slovenia.

Also some successful juniors like World Champions Szabina Gercsak, Distria Krasniqi and Frank de Wit will be present in Mittersill to combine good training, good training partners with the relaxed atmosphere of the Austrian mountains, whether or not with fresh snow. Nonetheless the outlook looks good for the athletes with such start of the year.

Some of the athletes will enter their second Training camp of the year as a few started in Lignano's (ITA) winter camp this week. This week a big Training camp is held in Brazil as well where some of the Pan American countries will appear as well as parts of the Russian team.

The OTC in Austria will be held from 7 until 16 January.