For Kelmendi, becoming Olympic champion was a dream come true. For Kuka, it was more like a lifelong mission finally accomplished. “I can now die knowing that I have achieved my goal in life of delivering an Olympic gold for our new country,” he says.
With Kelmendi’s success over the years, judo has become popular in Kosovo. There are now about 20 judo clubs operating there, which is quite a lot for a country whose population number less than two million. Perhaps Kuka’s next mission is to turn Kosovo into a nation with multiple judo world champions.
He admires coaches from small countries who are able to produce champions despite having a small pool of talent to work with. He cites Marjan Fabjan of Slovenia as an inspiration. “Despite tough conditions, he's produced results in every Olympics since 2004.” He also admires Shani Hershko of Israel, coach of World Champion Yarden Gerbi.
Kuka has some good prospects to work with, such as 24-year old Nora Gjakova at -57kg who has twice won a bronze at the Europeans. She got injured at a training camp in June and did not do well in Rio, losing her second bout. But Kuka expects her to perform better in 2017.
Akil Gjakova, 20, could very well become Kosovo’s first male judo star. A former European Cadet Champion, he just narrowly missed out on the -73kg bronze medal at the 2016 Zagreb Grand Prix.
But his best prospect is Distria Krasniqi, also 20 years of age, who is the current World Junior Champion. Her main problem is that she fights at the -52kg, just like Kelmendi. In recent years, we have seen players switch countries because the No. 1 player in their country was too dominant or for some other reasons. Might Krasniqi do the same if she cannot overcome Kelmendi?
“It was hard for both Kelmendi and Krasniqi before Rio 2016 and it will continue to be so going into Tokyo 2020” he says. “But for me, it’s even harder as I'm coach to both of them. It’s true that only one of them can go to the Olympics but I would never advise either of them to change to another country.”
On the topic of switching countries, it’s not just players who do that. Many top level coaches have gone abroad and achieved great success there, most notably Ezio Gamba of Italy who has done so well for the Russian team that he has even been granted citizenship there – on top of a very lucrative contract, no doubt.
As patriotic as he is, would Kuka ever consider coaching in a different country? “That’s really a hard question,” he says. “I love my country so much and I would like to continue to work in Kosovo but we will see after Tokyo 2020… if some good offer comes I might consider but for now, I have four more years of work to do in Kosovo.”