Driton Kuka: The Championmaker from Kosovo

At the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 Kosovo will participate with five Judoka. All five of them are in the top ten of their respective category and have the potential the be champions. Just in December 2014 was the Kosovo Olympic Committee recognized by the IOC and were able to claim their first ever Olympic medal in Judo with Majlinda Kelmendi’s golden one.

With his five top ten athletes Kuka was able to claim 104 medals at the IJF World Tour. Not only given the size and history of the country is this an unmatched success but also considering he coached his athletes since they started judo in his club.

So this Olympics the question will be: Can Kosovo repeat or even beat their success from 2016 and manifest their spot as a judo nation?

After the war I wanted to work with kids and wanted to show the world that Kosovo has great athletes which can win medals. But accomplishing so much with my athletes as we have now I couldn’t believe myself that this is possible. Like winning a gold Olympic medal and being the best country at a European championship is really crazy because me and my athletes are all from only one club. We are 100% committed to Judo, work really hard and the results are coming. In the end the results are not only for us but also for our country. Many people associate negative things when they hear “Kosovo” but we show the world that we have a good young and promising generation. And that if you work hard you can achieve everything.

Before the Olympic gold medal we were in a really hard situation and I had to play many roles. I had to be a coach, psychologist, a physiotherapist and so on. We hadn’t what we wanted for high-level Sport. I started to have a good cooperation with a Slovenian Physio and later also with one from Israel, they helped us a lot. The situation is much better since Rio because now our team are treated like heroes in Kosovo. Now we get the medical and financial support we need. In the past Judo as a Sport was not really respected and not very popular in Kosovo but now every big tournament gets streamed in the national TV. Every citizen knows us and the opponents of our athletes.

At the Olympic Games in 2012 I was extraordinary coach for Albania, just for one competition. Majlinda Kelmendi was a medal candidate there but in the end it was not a good experience for both of us. This year it’s a different situation, we have five athletes and with them five good chances of a medal. I hope to come back from Tokyo with a medal. A medal is a big success for Kosovo because all eyes of our nation will be on Judo. So it’s not easy and the athletes will have a lot of pressure before the Olympic Games. I think we have five good chances and we can manage to win one medal or even more. I will be happy with one medal but we work for five.

After the Rio Olympics I had good offers for head coach positions but Majlinda Kelmendi had had good offers after London too, when Kosovo was not part of the Olympic Committee and at that time I didn’t let her go. So after Rio Majlinda told me that I can’t leave after I didn’t let her go. Of course I don’t get as much money as it is possible in other countries but I decided to stay in Kosovo until this Olympic Games, than we will see. I think I will stay. After the Olympics I want Majlinda Kelmendi to assist me and be a coach because she was a high level athlete and has a lot knowledge to share with other generations. For now I am in Kosovo but we will see, if Majlinda manages to be a good coach and I can leave the Kosovo Judoka in good hands then maybe it’s time for me to think about having material benefits from my coaching job to build a better future for my family.

We managed the pandemic situation very good because I managed to keep the athletes close to the Dojo and we lived together for the three critical months. Our results are actually better now than before the outbreak. Especially the European Championships and the Masters in Doha. I think this is because I managed to keep them as a family, we lived together, ate together and trained together during those three months. After that we started a cooperation with nearby countries like Croatia, Slovenia, Albania and also with the Turkish Federation in September. We started step by step first with one country then two then three and now the Judo Family is starting to relive again.

Check the full video of the interview with Diana Suess.