Antoine Bouchard: Win in Panam ready for Zagreb

Antoine Bouchard was lifted by his home crowd in Edmonton Canada, when he this weekend became Pan American champion. This weekend he will be fighting at Zagreb judo Grand Prix.

Pan American champion, can you tell us how it feels?

Being Panam champion is an amazing feeling. It’s by far my biggest and most important victory of my life.

Could you take us through the day?

Before the day started, my goal was to grab a medal.

I came up short last year so I wanted to finish on the podium.
So I did my first fights with that goal in mind.

When I reached semi final I realize that I could do even better than win a medal: I could take the gold one.

So then it happened

Did it give extra energy to compete on home ground?

Fighting in front of my country was definitely a plus for me. I knew that no matter what happen, I would always have the crowd to cheer for me and to give me energy.

Have you had any time to celebrate?

I didn’t have time to celebrate my medal since I was fighting the day after in team tournament then I was flying for Croatia on Monday.

But I’m glad I had time to share that moment with my teammates, my coaches and my father.

This weekend it is time for the Grand Prix Zagreb, what is your expectations?

This weekend I think I would be happy with a top 7 or top 5, but I would rather reach the podium

It is a really good and close field in -66, who do you see as your toughest opponent?

I could pick any guy from top 10 or 20 as my toughest opponent, but I think I need to go for my Canadian rival Patrick Gagne.

We know each other so well and we had a couple of close fight recently.

On top of that we are both competing for a place on the Canadian Olympic team

What can we expect from the rest of the Canadian team?

This weekend I think we can expect some good results from our team.

A lot of us grabbed a medal last weekend at Panams and some of us are ranked in top 20 and top 10.

What are your plans after the Grand Prix?

My plan for the next weeks is unclear.

For the moment I am going to Budapest in June for a Grand Prix and in El Salvador for a World cup.

I also have Panam games in July.