The images are irritating: Judo trainer Claudiu Pusa stands in front of his athlete Martyna Trajdos, shakes her and slaps her in the face. For this he negotiated a warning. But Trajdos defended Pusa: she needed the ritual.
Several slaps in the face by national coach Claudiu Pusa for judoka Martyna Trajdos before her fight caused a stir at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The judo world association IJF issued a warning against a German trainer without explicitly mentioning Trajdos, Pusa or the scene from the competitions on Tuesday. The IJF reprimanded the coach for his “bad behavior during the competition”, as it announced via Twitter.
Previously, pictures and videos had caused a sensation showing Pusa Trajdos shaking and slapping twice shortly before their competition. The 32-year-old from Hamburg defended her coach. “That’s something I ask my coach. Don’t blame him! I need that before my fights to be awake,” she wrote on Instagram. It is a ritual before competitions that she has decided for herself. “It looks as if it wasn’t enough,” added Trajdos, referring to her defeat at the start in the weight class up to 63 kilograms.
The world federation emphasized in its statement that Judo is “an educational sport and as such cannot tolerate behavior that violates the moral code of Judo”. The association provided the tweet with the hashtag “Respect”.
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