JUDO
FEDERATION

We present you the memories, thoughts about the present, a nightmare of Beijing of Kazakhstan’s pride in judo Askhat Zhitkeyev. The best stories…

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I am satisfied with my present life. After the end of my career I got married and I have two children. I live in Almaty and work at the Judo Federation as a development director. I can tell you that I am glad with development of judo in Kazakhstan. We have world champions and winners of the biggest international tournaments and a lot of promising young athletes. Kazakhstan is in the top ten in this sport and therefore it sets the highest tasks. For example, in Rio de Janeiro, the world championship begins on August 26 and it will end on September 1. Our first national team is now preparing for this tournament. Regarding the leaders of the national team I can say these are, certainly, Maxim Rakov and Sergei Lim. Besides, we have to mention such names as Yeldos Smetov and Askhat Telmanov. Moreover, Islam Bozbayev is very close to their level.

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The victory of Sergei Lim at the international tournament World Masters in Tyumen wasn’t a surprise, it was exactly what he prepared for, what he deserved. It will also be a good impetus for those sportsmen who do not believe in themselves, because it hinders them from the results they could have. Regarding the result of the national team of Kazakhstan at the Europe Cup in Tbilisi, the 6^th team place is a good result. There are no weak opponents in judo, 202 national teams are ranked in the world rankings.

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Regarding the work of Kenes Rakishev on the post of the president of the Kazakhstan Judo Federation, I can tell that he is a person that is necessary for our judo. K. Rakishev as well as his predecessor Beket Makhmudov contributes a lot to development of judo in Kazakhstan. National teams have no problems with financing, the athletes have everything they need. Moreover, at the end of the last year we became a part of the Confederation of the Combat and Strength Sports. Now, we can say that we have just perfect conditions for progress.

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I was given the right to prepare and train our national team for the Olympics-2012, and being honest I am fully satisfied with the work I did. I did not have enough experience and time to do what I planned. I began my work a year and a half before the Games when I was just starting to realize all the aspects of the coaching job. If had had more knowledge at that time I would have done it better than it turned out to be. On the other hand trainers and coaches work for 10-15 years to earn the Olympic medal. This is hard work and now I understand it.

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Comparing the infrastructure of the 90s and what we have now we can see a huge difference, when we trained in the basements we had no hot water or cold water, but many things that were not available then are actually usual things for this generation of athletes. Formerly, a sportsman was given 100 US dollars and he had to buy all the equipment himself. Now, everything is ready and given by the state. There are gyms, there is money and there is a great interest from the youth. There is no reason to complain, but there are reasons to go in for sport, work for your victories.

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In Beineu (a village in Mangystau region), a judo sports club was opened not long ago. To the point it was named after me. Very good specialist Adil Bissenkulov works there and it is a great thing for young boys who begin their sports careers. A. Bissenkulov is an international master of sports, champion of the world in sambo and champion of Asia in judo. He has ten years of experience in working in this sphere. It is already seen that some of his boys have good potential for development, they already participate in tournaments and have good results there. The sports club is quite far from the regional center, but it has everything which is necessary for training. In April, I was there for the opening ceremony and for holding a master class. I liked everything what they did there. It was one more time when I realized that there was more talented youth in the places where they did not have the Internet or any other modern things. The situation is different in the cities.

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Many people think that the Olympic medal is the main award in the collection of a sportsman. It is not quite right, because when you have a silver medal won at the Games that means that you lost in the finals and had all the chances to win gold and then you are tortured with your own nightmares. The loss in the finals is a huge psychological blow that lives in your head for a long time. My failure at the Olympic Games-2008 is a good example. I wanted to win there in Beijing very much and I had been going towards my goal for three Olympic cycles.

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Speaking about the main achievement in my life, I can tell that I hope it is still in my future. I want my children to grow decent people and fulfill what they plan. They will choose their way themselves, I am not going to make them choose sport. I will just show it.

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I am satisfied with my sports career. Many judokas have medals from world championships but do not have medals from Olympic Games. I have both. Being honest, I am very proud of it.

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I had a lot of good victories. However, I still vividly remember a match for the bronze medal at the World Championship-2001 in Munich. My opponent was a decorated judoka from Georgia and I was losing at first. At the end I collected myself and managed to win that match and medal.

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I am not going to seriously change my life. Judo is my favorite thing and it will never be boring to me.

Note:

Askhat Zhitkeyev

A.Zhitkeyev was born on April 13, 1981 in Taldykorgan. H is an international master of sports and honored master of sports of Kazakhstan. His first trainer was Sayakhat Kudaibergenov.

Silver medal winner at the Olympic Games in 100 kg category (Beijing, 2008);

Participant of the Olympic Games (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004);

Bronze medal winner of the world championship (Munich, 2001);

Two-time champion of Asia (2003, Almaty, 2004);

Silver medal winner of the Asian championship (Tashkent, 2005);

Silver medal winner of the World Super Cup (Germany, 2001);

Two-time bronze medal winner of the Asia Games (2002, 2006);

Champion of the licensing international tournament (Qingdao, China, 2007);

Winner of the international and national tournaments;

Multiple champion of Kazakhstan.

Timur Baiketayev