Sport rather unknown to the general public, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is part of the long line of martial arts. It was imported at the beginning of the 20th century in Brazil by a Japanese master, which makes it a recent and atypical discipline in view of its various inspirations. The goal, to immobilize his partner and end up submitting him, without striking the slightest blow. An art in which the adopted Jura resident Gaël Hody excels, who last month in Rome became vice-champion of Europe in the middleweight brown belt category. This doctor by profession, originally from Marseille, trains in Biel at the “Icon Combatsports” academy. This is where Jérémie Pignard went to meet him to participate in his training. For technical reasons, our reporter was unable to record his own fights, it is indeed difficult to hold a microphone on a kimono when you are being manhandled! This did not prevent him from discovering this sport alongside the Jura champion.
Very technical, jiu-jitsu is also tactically akin to a “chess game” as its followers like to say. “We try to find a point of imbalance that we will try to find with the force or the weight of the partner. It’s a lot of work to take, to get the partner to make a choice that we actually try to dictate to him, until the finalization, “explains Gaël Hody. Intense in the effort, the discipline remains non-violent, which did not prevent Stéphane, a brave fighter, from finishing for a short time, and without damage, in the arms of Morpheus after being strangled. Previously, our Jura European vice-champion, and 2018 world champion, was a good level rugby player in the south of France. Gaël Hody precisely talks about his discovery of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, its philosophy and the link with his profession as a doctor.
Thanks to his performance at the last European championships, the Jurassian is directly qualified for the next Brazilian ju-jitsu world championships. He also hopes to be able to develop this discipline soon in the canton of Jura. /jpi
