World Champion and YOI: Fatima Supygalieva on the way to gold in Dakar

Fatima cannot describe the first emotions after the victory: It is impossible to convey in words the feelings she experienced at that moment. I was very glad that all hopes and expectations were fulfilled.”.

According to the judoka, the path to the Games was not easy. After the World Cup, she took a short break and then prepared for Almaty with the support of the whole team. Fatima went to Dakar with one setup: Honestly, I took on a lot of responsibility by saying to myself, ‘At any cost I have to win gold.’ I believed in myself very much. My country believed in me too, so I knew I had to live up to that trust.”.

The most dramatic was the finale. Trying to throw, the athlete got into the hold of the opponent, but managed to escape and bring the fight to victory.

During the fight, I first wanted to do a tomoe-nage. However, she accidentally let her rival keep me in the position of osaekomi. At that moment I thought to myself, ‘Am I going to lose like this? No, I came here for first place! Having gathered all my strength, I managed to escape from the hold. Despite the fact that there was very little time left, I did not give in to panic and continued to struggle in the stalls. In the end, I managed to win, recalls Fatima.

In addition to the competition, she especially remembered the opening ceremony and the atmosphere of the Games. The first to learn about the victory was dad, older brother, mother and coach.

Now Supygalieva is aimed at the adult level: “My immediate goal is to move to the adult team and adequately represent the country at even larger international competitions. I want to raise the flag of Kazakhstan to the highest step of the pedestal. More specifically, I dream of gaining the necessary rating points to participate in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and win a gold medal there.”