The Australian Olympic team had three women in Rio who were born in, or had competed for, other countries: Chloe Rayner at -48kg, Katharina Haecker at -63kg and Miranda Giambelli at -78kg. Each of them has some form of natural link to Australia though. Rayner for example, was born in the UK but moved with her family to Australia when she was nine years old. Haecker was born in Germany but has an Australian father. She competed in Germany as a junior but switched to Australia in 2014. Giambelli meanwhile, was born in Australia but has an Italian father. She competed for Italy until 2013, after which she made the switch to Australia.
Perhaps the biggest exporter of judo players in the world is Georgia. Its most famous export of course is Olympic and triple World Champion Ilias Iliadis. Interestingly, Ukraine’s World Champion Georgii Zantaraia is also Georgian-born. Several Georgian players compete for Spain and Turkey but they can also be found among the top players in Israel, Germany, Portugal, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Vadim Bocan, Valeriu Chisca, Valeriu Duminica and Mihail Marchitan do not exactly sound like Middle Eastern names. That’s because they are not. These are all former Moldovan players who now compete for United Arab Emirates, which has a proactive judo program. Their more famous compatriots whose names you might recognize are Ivan Remarenco, Victor Scvortov and Sergiu Toma. Of that lot, Toma has had the most success, having won a bronze medal in Rio and most recently, the gold medal at the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam. It was sweet victory for the host country.
Lebanon is not particular known for judo but it does have a former Brazilian judoka named Nacif Elias who switched to Lebanon in 2013 and won a silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. He also represented Lebanon in Rio where he raised a big stink after getting a hansoku-make disqualification in the first round after twice attacking Emmanuel Lucenti of Argentina with a drop sode-tsurikomi-goshi that ended up in a waki-gatame situation. The IJF has been strict about this kind of attack lately. He refused to leave the mat in protest and shouted at the officials. He eventually left the mat without bowing but was later persuaded to return to bow out properly. It was quite a spectacle.
Turkey has long had imports from other countries, many of whom change their names when they switch nationalities. You might not recognize the name Ketty Mathe from France. That’s because she’s now Kayra Sayit of Turkey. Never heard of Betkil Shukvani of Georgia? Perhaps his new name of Bekir Ozlu might sound more familiar. Turkey has a long tradition of this. Olympic gold medallist Huseyin Ozkan was formerly Khasei Bisultanov, while four-time European Champion Selim Tataroglu began life as Zelimkhan Magomedov. Both were from former Soviet states.
Many players from all over the world now represent African nations. Ex-French national team players Assmaa Niang and Rizlen Zouak have decided to switch to their parents' home country of Morocco. Brazilian-born Taciana Lima today fights for Guinea-Bissau, where her father is from. Szandra Szogedi of Hungary fights for Ghana, where her husband is from. Interestingly, Japan’s Karen Nun-Ira, the -70kg silver medallist at the 2014 World Championships in Chelyabinsk, has a Ghanaian connection. Her father is from there but you can’t actually consider her an African export as she was born in Japan.
We saw a lot of switches happening in 2013, the first year of the Olympic cycle after London 2012. Will we see a comparable development in 2017? It’s probably a safe bet this phenomenon will not only continue but will probably increase as more and more players seek out new ways to get to Tokyo 2020.
Ilias Iliadis (GRE)