Kelmendi didn’t have it easy in the Games by any means though. Although she sailed past her first opponent, Evelyne Tschopp of Switerzerland, with an uchimata for ippon, her next three matches would all be a challenging in different ways.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Kelmendi crashed out in her second bout against little-known Christianne Legentil of Mauritius who countered her uchimata for a spectacular ippon.
Since that shocking defeat, Kelmendi did not have the chance for a rematch because Legentil did not take part in many international competitions. But as fate would have it, Kelmendi’s second bout in Rio would be against none other than Legentil.
Although Kelmendi had come a long way since London – she had since then won the World Champion twice – Kuka took no chances.
“I asked her, who will you fight next?” he recalls. “When she replied ‘Legentil from Mauritius,’ I responded ‘NO! don’t think of her as Legentil from Mauritius but as Nakamura of Japan.’ I didn’t want her to be complacent. I wanted her to fight Legentil with 100% commitment as if she were fighting a triple world champion.”
Normally, when Kelmendi goes up against top players, she is already familiar with their style of play so Kuka doesn’t give specific instructions but with Legentil, he was strict with Kelmendi. He told her to avoid close contact with the Mauritian player, who is very good at counters. The strategy worked and although Kelmendi did not score any points, she was able to win on penalties.
Interestingly, winning by penalties is not the style of play Kuka normally advocates. Something of a traditionalist, Kuka prefers “ippon judo,” just like the Japanese. “I love judo and I love to see ippons, so I don’t train my athletes to do shido play," he says. "I ask them to do proper judo and try to win by throwing.”
However, he concedes the dictates of high level competition sometimes doesn’t allow “ippon judo” to be used at all times. A case in point is her fight against Legentil. Kelmendi was also strategic in her semi-final about against Nakamura.
Although Kelmendi was the top favourite, the Japanese player was a triple world champion and an expert on the ground. “With Nakamura, I told Majlinda to be careful of her newaza,” Kuka recalls. Kelmendi fought cautiously and won on penalties.