When nearly 90 boats sail along the Seine at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Fran Garrigós (Móstoles, 1994) will be on duty to inaugurate the Spanish medal table hours later on the first official day of competition, on Saturday 27 July, and in the process take the thorn out of what happened three years ago in Tokyo.when he arrived with a recent world bronze and left for the first round, desolate, disbelieving, wanting to leave the tatami, after losing in the first round of the lightest weights in judo, those that admit athletes as short (1.60) and muscular as him.
Ana Ruiz
“The Olympic medal is the dream I have been looking for all my life,” said Garrigós in 2021 in our Olympic report. And now he repeats why The mantra is the same: to fulfil her childhood dream before she turns 30, and at the same time break the drought of Spanish judo, which has not reached the Olympic podium since Isabel Fernández’s gold medal in Sydney 2000.condemned like a curse to lose fights for bronze – three in Athens 2004, two in Beijing, one each in London and Rio, and none in Tokyo.
With the help of Quino Ruiz, the judoka master in Brunete, Fran Garrigós has improved his mental approach so that he is not defeated by pressure and even his panoply of technical resources to be more than a fearsome judoka on the ground, and with that He has increased his list of achievements to become world champion in 2023 – he was unable to get on the podium this year – and to win two more European titles, the last one this spring.Always among the top five in the world rankings, he hopes that this time he won’t miss out on one of the four medals on the tatami.
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Men’s Health: You’re just a few months away from your third Olympic Games. Tell me about the nerves before the big competition.
Fran Garrigós: At the moment we are very calm, we dedicate ourselves every day to what we have to do, to continue training, to give our best in training and try to introduce things, or maintain what is good, but at the moment there are no nerves. As it gets closer, it will be the week with the most nerves.
Tell me a little about your daily routine as an athlete.
From Monday to Friday, I do a double session, which is two in the morning in the fitness gym and another two hours in the afternoon on the tatami, of which one is uchikomi warm-up, which is technique repetitions with a partner, and another hour of randori, which is the closest thing to competition. And on Saturdays, depending on the time of the season, we usually do a fitness session.
And what are those physical sessions like?
They are different depending on the day. Sometimes they focus on strength, two or three days a week, and other two days are more circuit-based and within strength we also do resistance work, which is a lot of changes of pace or on the bikes, 30 seconds. all out and 10 seconds of rest with ten repetitions.
“I train in double sessions, two hours in the morning at the gym and two hours in the afternoon on the mat”
Ana Ruiz
Ana Ruiz
What team of people helps you achieve your successes?
Mentally, I work with the psychologist Pablo del Río. I have been working for 12 years and it is very important to focus throughout the fight on all these possibilities, but above all on what depends on us, on our performance, rather than thinking about the result, which in the end is a consequence of the performance we have during the competition.
What do the Olympic Games mean to you?
They are a dream come true. These are my third Games, I am going in with a lot of possibilities and I am really looking forward to doing a good job.
What is your first memory of watching the Olympic Games?
I think my first memory of the Olympic Games is 2008, with Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, and in judo, what I have most experienced has probably been London, with Sugoi Uriarte’s fifth place. [en el mismo peso de Fran Garrigós, -60kg, fue un referente] losing the bronze to the Korean [Jo Jun-Ho].
And there you dreamed of being in some?
At the age of eight I already dreamed of being a world champion and an Olympic champion, I always had that dream.
Name: Fran Garrigós
Age: 29 years (1994)
Place of birth: Mostoles (Madrid)
Sport: Judo
Proof: -60 kilos
Achievements: World champion (2023), world bronze (2021). European champion (2021, 2022, 2024), European silver (2019), European bronze (2017, 2020, 2023). Winner of the European Games in 2022 and runner-up in 2019. Number 5 in the world ranking.
When to compete: Saturday 27 July. First round at 10am. Round of 16 at 12.20pm. Quarter-finals at 1.16pm. Play-offs, semi-finals and gold and bronze medal matches from 4pm.
Competition system: 24 judokas compete in a knockout phase until the final, with the best byes from the first round. The losers of the semi-finals will fight the winner of the duel of two losers in the quarter-finals for two bronze medals.
Main rivals: Guiorgui Sardalashvili (Georgia), Yang Yung-Wei (Taiwan), Lee Ha-Rim (Corea del Sur), Luka Mkheidze (Francia), Ryuju Nagayama (Japan)
And in Paris you are also competing on the first day, July 27th, you are Spain’s first big medal hope. Is that extra pressure?
No, lately I don’t think much beyond what I have to do during the day and what depends on me. At the Tokyo Olympics we had very good results and I think the whole Spanish judo team was a bit under pressure.
And after that defeat in Tokyo, you moved away from judo and even considered quitting..
Yes, it was a very difficult time. That year I became European champion and world bronze medalist and I arrived in very good shape, with a lot of desire and losing the first fight with the Frenchman [Luka Mkheidze]which I had won in the European final, was something I had not expected. I decided to take some time, go on holiday and think about whether it was worth continuing to compete. I like judo, I don’t know what I would do without judo, and I took it a bit easier until I decided to go to the first competition and see that I cared about it, that I liked competing and wanted to continue doing it.
“My improvement has been mental, focusing on what depends on me and forgetting about the result”
Ana Ruiz
What was the point at which you saw it clearly?
The first competition I did, the Portuguese Grand Prix in January 2022. And that’s when I said I wanted to win, to keep competing and for that I had to be 100% and give my all to see where I get to.
Looking back, what do you think went wrong in Tokyo?
I think I was under a lot of pressure from seeing myself as one of the favourites for the Games and thinking more about the result than what I had to do in the fight, because I practically didn’t make any entrances, and that’s something I have to learn from so that it doesn’t happen again in Paris.
The results of this Olympic cycle are even better than those of the previous one. How do you explain this evolution?
I think that right now I am in very good shape, that the results of this cycle have been much better than the results before Tokyo and I am really looking forward to the Games because I am in the best moment. Most of the improvement is mental, focusing on what depends on me and forgetting about the result, I think that is where I have improved the most.
How does being in Quino Ruiz’s dojo in Brunete influence you, in that training group with other world champions like Niko Sherazadishvili, a little far from a big city like Madrid?
I think that the fundamental pillar of the training group is Quino. He is a person you can count on for anything, whether on or off the mat. He helps you with everything you need and is able to see the good things in anyone. Maybe a kid in the gym doesn’t have the conditions to be a champion, but he notices and knows how to get the most out of his potential, and that’s the good thing about a coach, and creating a family atmosphere. Many people want to come to Brunete for that reason.
Who are your most dangerous rivals for the Paris Olympics?
All the rivals that enter the draw are dangerous, but I think the main ones would be Japanese [Ryuju Nagayama]which is the one I most want to avoid, and French [Luka Mkheidze] Also, he was the one who beat me in Tokyo. Being at home, he will be one of the rivals to beat.
Ana Ruiz
Tell me how you keep your weight under 60 kilos, because it will become increasingly difficult.
Judo, being a weight sport, you always have to be in control, so I like to eat fairly well, especially when I’m at home, and when I’m away I’m looking forward to coming back to eat better. When the competition approaches you reduce the amount of everything to be able to lose weight, and then you reduce your liquid intake, you become dehydrated, and in the last few days you go without drinking or eating practically anything.
And after competing, do you make up for it?
If I win a medal in Paris, I would definitely treat myself to pasta or pizza, which is what I like best and what I usually eat, or a good steak. After a big competition, I spend three or four days until I get fed up with eating badly, then I come home and start eating healthy again.
And if you continue in judo, would you consider going up to -66kg for the next Olympic cycle?
Since I don’t know what I’ll do after Paris, I’m not thinking about whether I’ll continue and whether I’ll maintain my weight. I need to have a good holiday, think about it carefully and decide.
What alternatives do you have?
I would like to be a coach for a national team or president of the Spanish Judo Federation.
“The last few days before competing you go without drinking or eating practically anything”
Ana Ruiz
If I give you a piece of paper guaranteeing you bronze at the Paris Olympics, will you sign it?
No, I wouldn’t sign it because I think that today I am in a very good situation in all the competitions, I am doing a good job, I am feeling very comfortable and I hope to be a little higher on the podium.
And any crazy bets or ideas to celebrate?
I had said I would go skydiving, but I’ve already done it and I don’t know what I would do right now. I would dedicate it to my parents, to Quino, very important people who have been there all my life. And I would definitely go on holiday and disconnect for a while to see what I feel like.
Interview: Ismael Perez
Address: Jordi Martinez e Ivan Iglesias
Photography: Ana Ruiz
Photography assistant: Idoia Vitas
Video recording: Diego Rueda
Video editing: Asun Penalva
Production: Ismael Perez and Joaquin Gasca
Makeup and hair: Tati Garu
Art direction: Maria Jesus Bocanegra
Clothing: Decathlon
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Ismael Pérez is a journalist specialising in athletics and Olympic sport. He became hooked on the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and has been happy ever since following competitions from the press gallery, talking to athletes, following them on social media and telling stories, but also going out on his bike or jumping at a concert.
She studied a degree in Journalism at the University of Valladolid and has a Master’s degree in Journalism and Digital Communication from the EAE Business School in Madrid. She has lived in Turin and Rome and has covered all kinds of current affairs for El Norte de Castilla, El Mundo de Castilla y León, Televisión Castilla y León, Rome Reports and worked in corporate communications for Burson Cohn & Wolfe. She has also written about major athletics championships for Somos Olímpicos, Vavel and Foroatletismo and has taken part in the IAAF Global Running Conference in Lanzhou (China).
With a career spanning more than a decade, he has been linked to Runner’s World, Men’s Health and Women’s Health at Hearst Magazines since 2019 and writing about current events in competitive athletics, popular races, triathlon, trail running, Olympism, although sometimes he has also dabbled in cycling, climbing, sailing, swimming, tennis, canoeing, judo, snowboarding… or anything that has a place in the Olympic Games (not the Olympics).
2024-07-04 08:00:01
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