The French judo team is currently training at Creps de Montpellier to prepare for the world championships, which take place in Uzbekistan from October 6 to 13, 2022. The mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse, and the president of the French federation of judo, Stéphane Nomis, took the opportunity to formalize this Friday, July 29 two major events: Montpellier will host the European Judo Championships in 2023 and the French men’s and women’s team will come to train there to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s a great honorexults Michaël Delafosse. It shows that Montpellier is a land of sport and it is a source of great pride for the territory”. “There is no question of missing out on the Paris Olympics, he adds, France will radiate across the planet and Montpellier must be there.”
“If France is to have many Olympic medalists, they must have a link with Montpellier.” – Michael Delafosse
When will a Montpellier champion?
The city is also preparing for the future: ten new dojos will be built in priority neighborhoods of the city by 2024. Montpellier will be part of the first mixed professional judo championship (team of 5 men and 5 women) in France, which starts in October.
The objective is to create a pool of young talent from Montpelliersummarizes Michaël Delafosse: “The goal is not only to support professional sport, which makes us dream, but to ensure that lots of children practice it. It’s very good for health, social cohesion, but it’s also a way of create future champions.”
A long-term investment with the support of the French judo federation, which validated the choice of Montpellier as the base camp. For its president, Stéphane Nomis, Montpellier benefits “all the necessary facilities, a modernized Creps, an adapted university centre. All the conditions were met.” The city is “a test to modernize high-level French judo, with the French team, the university center and the professional league in the same place”.
In any case, the stated objective is clear: 10 medals at the Paris Olympics for the president of the federation Stéphane Nomis. Two more than the eight obtained in Tokyo in 2021. There are less than two years left to take this bet.