Women’s Judo and Men’s Taekwondo teams of the Republic of Slovenia had a pre-games training camp in Abiko for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Also, an exchange meeting was held for the women’s judo team members who had finished the matches in the Olympics and young people of Abiko who are practicing judo. AIRA dispatched interpreters in order to support the team members during their stay. (No.21-8)

The period of the camp and the team members:

　Women’s Judo Team: Wednesday, July 14 – Tuesday, July 20, 2021
　　Ms. Marusa Stangar and two other people

　“Men’s Taekwondo Team: Saturday, July 17 – Wednesday, July 21, 2021
　　Mr. Ivan Konrad Trajkovics and three other people

Exchange Meeting:
　Sunday, July 25, 2021, 2:00 p.m. – 4:10, at Gymnasium Sub -Arena
　Attendants:
　　The Republic of Slovenia: Three members from the female judo team
　　Abiko City: Mayor Mr. Hoshino, Councilor Mr. Sawada and Ms. Kanae Yamabe, the bronze medalist of 78kg class judo at Rio Olympic Games and others.
　　Judo Clubs in Abiko: Chuo Gakuin Highschool, Kids’ Judo Club of Abiko Police, Ryudo-kan, Hoshino Judo Hall and Abiko Junior High School

Interpreters dispatched by AIRA
　Mr.Yasuhiko Hesaki, Director of Volunteers Department, Mr.Hiroshi Osaki, Ms.Noriko Kurata, Ms.Hitomi Koyama, Mr.Hiroshi Saruwatari, Mr.Katsumi Nakajima and Ms.Rie Hama

 

On May 24, 2021, Abiko City exchanged an agreement to accept the pre-games training camp with the ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Japan. Thereafter, preparatory work proceeded and Abiko City held a meeting with AIRA to explain the camp schedule and the content of the work.

In order to support the Slovenian athletes, staff members from Abiko City as well as from Chiba Prefecture, AIRA interpreters and sports promoters were organized.

The AIRA interpreters welcomed the delegation at Haneda Airport and accompanied them to the hotel in the city. Also, they helped the athletes when they moved between the hotel and the training places (Civic Gymnasium Martial Arts Hall, etc.) during their training period and when they moved from the hotel to the Olympic Village in Tokyo after the training camp. They also interpreted at the exchange meeting for the athletes and Abiko young people.

[Training of Women’s Judo Team]
On Thursday, July 15, the team members, who had arrived in Tokyo the previous night, had light training to relax their bodies by jogging, etc. in the nearby Shibazakidai Central Park in order to adjust the time difference. Ms. Hama from AIRA joined them at the hotel in the morning and worked as an interpreter the whole day. In the afternoon, they moved to the Civic Gymnasium Martial Arts Hall, which was their practice place.
Upon their arrival, they were warmly welcomed by the Gym staff and locals. The official Olympic video-shooting crew visited the Gym and kept videotaping from the morning.
Prior to the training, a welcome video was shown to the athletes. In the video, a lot of young people from clubs in Abiko, such as judo, karate, brass band, dance, cheerleading, Japanese drums, calligraphy etc., expressed their hearty welcome. The team members were much impressed with the video and expressed their gratitude to the kids and students who appeared in the video.
After that they started training from light warm-up to serious matches.
On Sunday, July 20 they completed the camp and moved to the Olympic Village.

[Training of Men’s Taekwondo Team]
The team members arrived at the hotel from Haneda in the afternoon of July 17 and next morning they practiced at the Martial Arts Hall.
Taekwondo is a martial art characterized by kicking as well as punching techniques. First, they played a mini- football game as a preparatory training and then started to practice hard with the coach. They practiced in relaxed atmosphere with background music, but sometimes sounds of hitting protectors with gloves and shouting voices like real matches were heard.
In the afternoon, they played a mini-football game again in YuYu Park under the sunny and windy weather.

[Exchange Meeting with Abiko Citizens]
On Sunday, July 25 the Women’s Judo team members visited Abiko before their departure and attended the exchange meeting held at the Civic Gymnasium Sub-Arena. Twenty-four young people from five judo clubs joined this meeting. As soon as the students began their practice, the team members started walking around among them. They couldn’t teach them by touching their bodies because of the pandemic, but they gave advice about grounding techniques, “Kumite”, and so on. They sometimes praised the students saying “Good! Good!” and encouraged them with such words as “Daily and continuous practices are important.” “Love judo.” “A match is done in limited time, so do your best always.”

Questions & Answers between the students and the team members;
Q: How are you taking care to keep your body weight? ⇒ A: It is nice if we can control it though I pay no special attention so far.
Q: What do you think is important in the practice? ⇒ A: To do the best for the day.
Q: How do you motivate yourself? ⇒A: To try to think positively every day. If you think why you do judo, you will get energy. It’s important to love and enjoy judo.
The team members answered each question politely.

Because Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were held under the COVID-19 pandemic, various restrictions were imposed on the athletes and citizens. The people working for the pre-games camp were required to get a screening test every day and to prove negative in order to prevent the spread of the virus. The athletes and staff members were requested to refrain from dinner meetings or going outside. AIRA interpreters also got necessary tests as they were also to contact the athletes. Fortunately, all the athletes were able to participate in the Olympic Games without being infected by COVID-19, which relieved all the people who supported them in Abiko.
Abiko people were deeply impressed and inspired by the Slovenian athletes’ gentle and clam personalities, strong belief and sincere attitude.
“Many thanks for your kindness supporting us under the difficult circumstances. I do hope to revisit Abiko to see you again sometime in the future.” (Ms. Marusa Stangar)

(Translated by Katsumi Nakajima)