Billy Cusack and Sally Conway now both in the coaching chair

At the second day of Grand Prix Portugal there was a special contest. Swedish judoka Tommy Macias is an experienced judoka and world silver medallist U73kg, making his debut in the U81kg category. It is his first official fight of the year. Two metres behind walks Sally Conway, British, 34 years old, bronze medallist at the Rio Games, bronze also at the Tokyo World Championships in 2019 and a coach for just a week. It is her first fight sitting in the coach's chair for Sweden.

Further back is Scott Cusack, British, 26, returning from a long injury and also his father, Billy, a trainer and the person who has spent the most hours with Sally over the last fifteen years.

So we have a son in a white judogi and his father in the coach's chair. We have the son's former babysitter and son's father's former student sitting in the other coach's chair and we have the former babysitter's new pupil in blue judogi in his first match in a new category.

The two judoka step on to the tatami and greet each other. The two coaches do the same. The IJF media team was curious about some things and asked, were you smiling at the time of bowing? The thing with the masks is that we cannot know.

“Of course I was,” says Billy. “I am so proud to see Sally in the chair across from me. She was an exceptional athlete and is a better person. I don't know anyone who doesn't love her."

“I didn't smile,” answers Sally, “I had the mask face.” But when she says it, she smiles with her eyes. About the fight, Billy confesses that Scott has done well, especially considering he was returning to the mats after an injury. "Also, Tommy is very good, he has a lot of experience and now he has Sally."

Sally now lives in Sweden, but it was a very recent move. “I just got here! I need time to get to know Tommy and the rest of the team. In this first contest with him I have simply asked myself what he needed from me. It is a different experience because being on or off the mat is not the same and it takes time, but it has been a positive experience.”

Macias got the better of Cusack with some excellent ground work, which was also Sally's specialty. As for Macias, speaking about Scott, he has said he doesn't want to fight him again because “he is so strong."

In the end they all left happy, or almost all of them, because nobody enjoys losing. Rarely have we seen such a concentration of mixed emotions in such a small space in Portugal, but it won’t be the last occasion.