Judo Flanders quits with foreign coaches Van der Ham and Quellmalz

Judo Vlaanderen has announced that it will no longer continue working with coaches Mark van der Ham and Udo Quellmalz. Their current contracts will run until December of this year, after which they will part ways with the federation.

Dutch coach Mark van der Ham, returned to Judo Vlaanderen last summer as an elite coach. This marked his second stint with the federation, following a successful five-year collaboration from 2017 to 2022. In between, from March 2022 to May 2023, he worked with the Azerbaijan judo federation. He returned to Judo Vlaanderen in August last year, taking over from Damiano Martinuzzi, with the task of preparing the judoka for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Van der Ham was notably the coach of Matthias Casse, guiding him to a world title and Olympic bronze in 2021. However, Casse narrowly missed a bronze medal in Paris.

German coach Udo Quellmalz, joined Judo Vlaanderen in August 2022 as the national coach. He stepped in after Van der Ham's first departure and later worked alongside him after his return. Quellmalz had more of a supervisory role. As an athlete, Quellmalz had an outstanding career, winning an Olympic gold medal (1996) and two world titles (1991 and 1995).

With the end of this collaboration, Judo Vlaanderen faces a new chapter as it prepares for the future beyond the Paris Olympics.