Her medal in the 57kg division was one of two won by SA’ s judokas – teammate Timothy Meuwsen won silver in the 81kg category – and judo was one of three sporting codes( along with swimming and athletics) to win medals.
Since Birmingham, Breytenbach’ s journey has taken her in an entirely new direction. In 2023, she packed her life into two 23kg suitcases and moved to Hungary.
“ It was the hill I needed to climb. I received a scholarship to study sports science at a sports university in Budapest,” she explained.
“ I have a Hungarian passport because my grandfather, on my mother’ s side, is Hungarian, and the head of our studies, Endre Nemeth, suggested I go to Honved Judo Club, where luckily I had some friends that were already training there, making that transition easier.”
It was in Hungary that Breytenbach rediscovered her hunger for judo.
“ The coaches at Honved are attentive and quick to help you no matter the situation, and through their passion I re-found my desire to compete.
“ Although I moved three years ago, I haven’ t had much success, as juggling a BSc degree and a high-performance training schedule is extremely difficult.”
That made her Glasgow experience all the more memorable.
“ Fighting at the Commonwealth Games and walking through that tunnel for my bronze final was absolutely surreal. I wanted nothing more than to leave my heart on that tatami [ mat ].
“ I was so proud and thankful to have won the bronze medal, not only for Team SA but also for me and my coaches and teammates who have supported and helped me these last three years. It’ ll be a core memory for the rest of my life.”
Thanks to Breytenbach, the Honved club, which boasts a good few Olympic coaches and athletes, now has another international success story.
Any athlete will tell you that no medal comes easily.
“ My family, Thomas [ twin brother and fellow national judoka ] and I have all made many sacrifices and although I’ ve never been vocal about them, it doesn’ t mean I don’ t have them.
To be able to walk away from the Games having been on the podium after the sacrifices felt more than amazing.”
Breytenbach says her actual grappling time in Glasgow was relatively quick.
“ My first fight was against Zambia’ s Sylvia Nawila. She was very tall so my strategy was to make sure I controlled her dominant arm, and when I took her to the ground I had a quick transition into kansetsu waza( armbar), and she tapped out.
“ I went through to semis and fought against Yamini Mourya of India, but I wasn’ t focused enough during that fight and took a loss.”
Her bronze medal fight was against Mauritian Marie Begue and she was back in the zone.
“ I just focused on my grip and doing my judo and in the end, it was what gave me the confidence during my fight – and I was overjoyed to have been able to keep that mentality alive within me.”
Success brings success, and Breytenbach is taking heart from that.
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“ My previous Games didn’ t have many ideal situations and there were some obstacles and I think this held me back from being a medallist in Birmingham. This time round I had faith in myself, my coach and God’ s will.
“ So from now on I’ ll just be reminding myself how much more successful I am when I believe in myself.”
The bond between Donné and twin brother Thomas, affectionately known as Choppie, has always been rock-solid. He shared what the journey has looked like through a brother’ s eyes.“ When we moved abroad in August 2023, we took a few months ' break to get into the academic side of things and the last two years have been quiet in terms of results, so much so that there was a bit of naysaying in the judo community back home,” he said.
“ But this year she medalled at a European Cup, so it showed she was on track. The day we got the news that we’ d made Team SA, she honestly changed into a different person.”
Thomas says judo pretty much became her entire life.
“ She was practically living at the training centre, putting in five-six hours of training a day.
“ I honestly knew she’ d medal( whatever the colour!) from the get-go. There was just something so different in her preparation. I’ d never seen her so fit before and on a different level in terms of mindset and preparation.”
Thomas admits that was a strange feeling.“ I know her better than anyone and seeing this‘ different’ person coming out was a bit strange, even eerie.
“ On fight day her whole demeanour was different to what I’ d ever seen, and when she won that medal I couldn’ t have been prouder of her.
“ I blasted past security, there was no one who would have stopped me … We just hugged and hugged, no words, just lots of tears. One of the proudest moments of my life and it might as well have been a gold medal in my opinion.”
Thomas remains firmly of the opinion that the best is yet to come.
“ She’ s not a person who easily shows any problems she’ s carrying, but I think after this medal she’ s only going upwards from here.”
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