„Before I am an athlete, I am an Orthodox Christian”
Serbian judoka Nemanja Majdov faced unpleasant news when he received a five-month suspension for violating “religious codes” on Olympic Games in Paris. Majdov received a punishment because before his fights baptized which was assessed as a violation and unacceptable behavior within the framework of sports norms.
On the occasion of the suspension, Majdov sent a letter to the World Judo Federation, in which he defended his actions and expressed his disappointment. In the letter he quoted i Novak Djokovic, broadcast by Novosti.
PHOTO: STARSPORT- Dear Sir,
I don’t need a hearing, I don’t need to take up your time, I’m just going to tell you some things from the heart – and as a defense, but more to try to help judo grow, because judo represents us, and we represent judo. And since people have a better opinion of my sport, they respect me more, but also, if people start to see that judo is falling in some way, as it happened with me in the eyes of people, then I have to react, because judo it also represents who I am.
Now, about being baptized. Here I want to quote the words of my close friend Novak Djokovic, who comes from the same culture as me:
Before I am an athlete, I am an “Orthodox Christian”.
I come from a country where the Christian culture is very big and very strong, that’s how we grew up.
For me there is something bigger than any sport and work. God has given me everything in life, I have won many great titles and I am grateful to Him. Before every fight, like all athletes, I am stressed and scared, and I pray a lot. This is exactly what gave me the confidence and power to overcome everything. I did cross myself more than once, that’s true, but I don’t see anything wrong with it. I never wanted to provoke anyone else or anything like that. Moreover, I have a lot of respect when someone does things from another faith, because many people just feel the need to do it to overcome all the miracles they encounter.
Great role models for many, in 100% more popular sports than judo, get baptized and do other similar things. If one Rolando, one Messi, one Djokovic, Lebron James, Tom Brady, Habib, Usik and others do it every time they start a performance, why can’t we? This is a human right, and as we know, God is the greatest.
Otherwise, the Olympic ceremonies were really boring for all Christians, very satanic and out of control.
And the second thing I want to say: the rules of judo need to change a lot. I am here as a world and European champion to help overcome it.
In particular, lately I have not met top judokas who are satisfied with the current state, they are all embarrassed (by the state of this sport), like me. I won three world and eight European medals, I think that, as a guy who came from a region that had never had results like this before, I became a master of my sport. But… then how is it possible that I, like that, do not understand the rules, because in the last two years I have received about 15 hansoku makes and that is ridiculous. (Author’s note: shido is a minor penalty in judo, and hansoku make is either a more serious offense that immediately means defeat, or it is a defeat due to a large number of minor offenses collected. Abbreviation is HM). In almost every other competition they gave me three shidos for something the other guys don’t. I can find for every case of my shido or HM that in 100 situations the other competitor did not get a shido. (Indeed they can, but let’s not get into that right now).
I mean, sometimes it is a shido violation, sometimes it isn’t, but when it comes to Nemanja Majdov, well, then it always is.
In many cases, the judges were wrong. And they send you home. Then you prepare hard, come, when it immediately HM again, go home. Only at the beginning of 2023 I had 6 HM in a row?! Everyone who has followed my career knows that my style is an open spartan fight, not like I’m some timid guy. I remained calm (after those six HM), I decided not to say anything about it, because the Olympics are coming, and then she came, and the same thing happened. Three shido, and in a match with a guy against whom I was 5:0 (in wins). The referee killed me with his mistakes, stupid rules that referees only use when they don’t like someone. But the bigger problem is that according to that rule, my opponent should get shido, not me. And this is how they gave it to me and killed my dream in three minutes of something that wasn’t even a judo fight.
Judo becomes a shido fight. When we fight, we are more focused on not being punished, than on how to throw the rival. That’s the way it is. Now in judo, the referee has 100% influence on the outcome of the match.
That’s not good for us. Not good for sports.
The better man does not win. Leave us to fight, we need throws (which is what judo became famous for, ed.), not policemen in suits to send us home without being defeated in a real fight.
We have been working hard for 20 or more years, our families live from judo, we put all our life’s effort into this. The refereeing commission should take more care of that, and not that the arbitrators have more space in making stupid decisions to send you home, and not allow you to sweat. In any sport where the referee is the most important person on the field, that sport has no future. And, of course, that sport is not among the most popular.
There are two referees… I think that in the last 20 matches when they refereed me, I lost 18. I have a 0:10 ratio of wins and losses with one of them.
And see how I lose (when he judges): always HM, three shido.
I can’t win when they’re around. It’s devastating, mentally. I just pray when I go to a match that I don’t see them coming, because if I don’t see them, then 99% of the time I’ll win the fight.
When something like that happened at the Olympic Games, emotions overwhelmed everyone. It’s hard when someone sends you home without giving you a chance to show what you know.
There are types of fighters who are strong in the first two minutes, then give up later…. there are plenty of them, without a championship mentality. But let’s show a championship mentality. I understand that some (controversial) decision happens after three or four minutes, but for him to send me home like that, that was not right. After 15 HM I couldn’t control my emotions because I was right. And I was, because the referee made a mistake in the previous shido, my rival broke the grip, not me. And I stand by the fact that I was right about that decision. I don’t know what to say except that please change those rules about catching, because it’s stupid. I mean, I can perform to break the grip, but pull back in such a way that it looks like the opponent did it. So, if he didn’t break the grip, but if it looks like he did and then he gets shido, then he goes home because, well, I used the existing rules and worked on it in training – to deceive the referees.
But I’m not that kind of guy, I’m a real fighter.
Christian knight
Sorry for the long text, I write and speak openly, from the heart.
I wanted to help my sport, if you know what I mean. I’m not saying this because it’s about me and my future. I have already done a lot, even more than I can imagine, I am a happy family man, a millionaire, respected in my country as the first world champion. I have everything, and doing it all out of love and passion, and because I’m still a lion. I started from scratch with my ‘crazy’ parents who put everything at risk for judo and we made it. But I’m saying all this for other high-level judokas, for all of them from all over the world who also put in everything, didn’t give up, and who don’t make such a good living from judo. I talk to them and I know what I’m talking about.
There are many things to worry about…
Thank you for reading.
And don’t give me too much to rest.
Kings never die.
Nemanja Majdov, champion of Europe and the world – concluded our Olympian.
Source: hotsport.rs
