Coughlan placed fifth at the prestigious invitational tournament, the toughest event on the international judo calendar after the Olympic Games and World Championships .

Six of Australia’s top judo athletes returned to the world stage in Qatar this month for the first time since the world turned on its head in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Forced to train at home for almost a year, skype with their coaches in other states, and with no visibility on the progress of their main international rivals, the team knew they were in for a challenge when they were released from hotel quarantine in Doha last week.

25-year-old Coughlan headed into the competition ranked 29th in the world, and defeated the 5th, 6th and 12th ranked athletes in the women’s -70kg division on her way to the semi-final.

She was narrowly defeated by Germany’s Giovanna Scoccimarro in the bronze medal match, finishing in equal 5th place.

“I’m very proud of what I achieved,” Coughlan said. “Obviously getting so close to a medal is bittersweet, but at the end of the day I’m really proud of what I did and it’s a great result.

“[The bronze medal match] was a close fight and I know that next time – as long as I maintain my concentration – the result will be a different situation.”

With vital Olympic qualification points up for grabs, the Doha Masters has significantly boosted Coughlan’s potential for an Olympic debut in July.

“This competition gave me a big number of points towards qualifying for the Olympic Games… I’m now about 13 points away from a direct qualification spot,” she said.

“So, if I can get in another two or three medal fights within the next five or six months, then I will be in a really good position for direct qualification [for Tokyo], which is the goal.”

The Melburnian was able to maintain her fitness and training whilst at home, thanks to her judo-centred family and her training partners at Resilience Training Centre.

Aoife lives with her brother Eoin, who represented Australia at the Rio 2016 Olympics, her sister Maeve, who is also a member of the national judo team, and her brother’s partner Sara Collins, who represented Australia at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. 

“I was luckier than most, as I had people to push me and to train with during lockdown,” she said.

“The first lockdown was difficult, you lose a bit of your momentum and you have some down weeks and some up weeks, but we just had to do the best we could.

“During the second lockdown we were lucky enough to get essential workers permits under the elite athlete guidelines so there was a small group of us who were able to do a small amount of training for a small amount of time under some strict hygiene restrictions, which was a saviour.

“I’m also really grateful for my training partners that showed up every day. This is a sport when you cannot train on your own and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Coughlan was joined in Doha by Rio 2016 Olympic brothers Nathan and Josh Katz, and fellow Tokyo 2020 hopefuls Tinka Easton, Harrison Cassar and Kayhan Ozcicek. The team was coached by four-time judo Olympian Daniel Kelly.

The Katz brothers said even though it was a disrupted lead-up to the competition, they were grateful to be back on the competition mats.

“We were both really happy to just be there,” Nathan said. 

“You miss the feeling of winning, you don’t miss the feeling of losing, but you still miss that process of being there. Competing has been our life for so long, so it was nice to get back into a little bit of normality, even though it was a lot different to what it used to be like.”

“The event had an Olympic feeling because everyone there is the best in the world, and we’d definitely missed that feeling,” Josh added.

After having to miss out on most 2020 competitions due to the coronavirus, Nathan found out in early December 2020 that he was due to compete at the invitational event and had five weeks to prepare.

He faced Rio 2016 silver medallist and the eventual competition winner, Korea’s An Baul, in the opening round and unfortunately suffered a small fracture in his rib cartilage in his first fight, resulting in a premature end to his competition .

“I was in really good shape heading into the competition,” he said.

“At about halfway during the match we were even, there weren’t any scores, and then I was defending on the ground and I turned away and heard a massive pop in my ribs.

“That was the end of my fight… I now just have to sit and wait until my [hotel quarantine in Adelaide] is done and then try to get it sorted as quick as I can to be able to go back to competitions next month.”

On the other hand, Josh was planning to celebrate the New Year with mates when he got the call at 9pm on 31st December that he’d been offered a place in the event after another Oceania athlete pulled out. 

After an extremely strict cutting period to make weight within a number of days, instead of weeks, the -60kg fighter said he left it all on the mat.

“It wasn’t necessarily the best return to competition after waiting so long to get back out there, but under the circumstances I was pretty happy in the end and I don’t think I could have done a whole lot more,” Josh said.

“I was even in a fight with a guy who, had I fought him 12 months ago, I wouldn’t have been confident at all that I could beat him.

“The fight was going really well until the last 10 seconds and then I think just the fatigue of the whole process – not being in the best competition state, losing a lot of weight really quickly – got to me and that was it.”

“The fight still gave me a lot more confidence to know that even under those less-than-ideal preparations, that’s a fight I would definitely be able to win next time.”

Like all elite athletes, the past 11 months have taken its toll on the judo  athletes, but all agreed the Olympic dream was the motivation that has driven them through this challenging time.

“There were moments [during lockdown] when you were really motivated, and some days when it got a little bit too much and it was a real drag,” Nathan Katz said.

“The belief that the Olympics were going to happen and that we could qualify was really the only thing keeping us motivated.”

“I’ve wanted to be an Olympian since I was five, and as a kid doing a sport it’s a dream but you don’t know if it’s going to be a reality or not,” Coughlan said.

“To now be 25-years-old and for Tokyo it to be a real possibility, something I’ve been working on properly since I was 15, it’s incredible. It can be difficult to put into words. – the idea of realising a childhood dream.”

Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au