Olympic qualifying preview

The Olympic qualifying tournament will take place in Kazan, Russia, on January 27-29. Finland is represented in women by Saina Savage (+67 kg), Suvi Mikkonen (-57 kg), Juho Kostiainen (-68 kg) and Teemu Heino (+87 kg). The men's team consists entirely of representatives of our club. The team is coached by Jesus Ramal, managed by Jarkko Mäkinen and the physiotherapist is Taekwondo athletes Juho Ranta.

Teemu, Juho and Suvi will play on Saturday, Saina on Sunday.

The participant lists for the series have been published, and here are some educated guesses and random observations based on them.

Women under 57 kg:

As expected, the series is tough, but remarkably smooth. Personally, I would highlight at least Israel's Bat-el Gatterer, who previously won the European Championship and represented his country at the Olympics. In addition, tough names are France's fine lifting representative Marlene Harnois (EC 1st, Univ. 1st) and Italy's Veronica Calabrese (JMM and JEM 1st, MM 3rd). In this club, however, Suvi is completely competitive. Good performances throughout the year are completely comparable to other participants. It can even be said that Mikkonen is among the early favorites. The fact that Ana Zaninovic (CRO), the current number one name in Europe, already obtained a race ticket from the world qualification also has an effect on the matter.

1 AZERBAIJAN F-57 GUNAY AGHAKISHIYEVA 05-12-1990
2 BELARUS F-57 ZUBOVICH DARYA 24-11-1991
3 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA F-57 MARIJAN ANTONELA 17-08-1988
4 BULGARIA F-57 TANYA STEFANOVA 11-04-1990
5 CYPRUS F-57 DESPINA PILAVAKI 05-02-1992
6 CZECH REP F-57 MICHAELA PINKANOVA 04-10-1984
7 FINLAND F-57 SUVI MIKKONEN 11-7-1988
8 FRANCE F-57 MARLENE HARNOIS 22-10-1986
9 HUNGARY F-57 EDINA KOTSIS 27-06-1990
10 ICELAND F-57 INGIBJORG ERLA GRETARDOTTIR 28-08-1994
11 IRELAND F-57 SONYA MCCONNELL 05-04-1990
12 ISRAEL F-57 BAT-EL GATTERER 04-02-1988
13 ITALY F-57 CALABRESE VERONICA 07-11-1987
14 NETHERLANDS F-57 DEBORAH LOUZ 06-02-1980
15 NORWAY F-57 KURSAR NIKOLINA 05-08-1991
16 POLAND F-57 ALEXANDRA USCINSKA 02-12-1984
17 SERBIA F-57 DRAGANA GLADOVIC 07-27-1992
18 SWITZERLAND F-57 BEZZOLA MANUELA 12-08-1989

Women over 67 kg:

Saina's series is the smallest of the Games. However, the level is tough. Half of the competitors in the series are competition medalists, and especially the Spanish representative's list of achievements is quite impressive (JMM 1st, EC 1st, WC 1st and a number of lesser medals). I would put Slovenia's Nusa Rajheri as the second favorite. In addition, the representatives of Serbia and Greece have achieved prestigious medals.

With the exception of Simon Alamo, the level of all the fighters in the series may vary from tournament to tournament and they have tactical weaknesses (most notably, Rajher has not taken any points from electronic armor in the tournament, etc.), which can be used to defeat them.

1 AUSTRIA F+67 KUKTOVIC EDINES 19-06-1992
2 FINLAND F+67 SINA SAVAGE 03-03-1983
3 GREECE F+67 KOUVARI KYRIAKI 19-01-1984
4 NORWAY F+67 SKAAR TINA 31-08-1993
5 SERBIA F+67 MILICA MANDIC 06-12-1991
6 SLOVENIA F+67 NUSA RAJHER 20-07-1983
7 SPAIN F+67 ROSANNA SIMON ALAMO 11-07-1989
8 UKRAINE F+67 KONIEVA MARYNA 19-10-1987

Men under 68 kg

Juho's series is really interesting. The series is even and you can't name an absolute favorite. Personally, I would say that in addition to Juho, the representatives of Croatia, Israel and Poland can be found in the top places. Even Sweden's Ashna Milad might have a chance. The final order depends a lot on the chart, and for example if Juho is already in the first rounds against Croatia, the result cannot be estimated in advance, but it is about who succeeds in individual solutions. Last time, Croatia won in sudden death, but the preliminary information about the preparation of the Croatians is not very enthusiastic.

Juho is in great shape, and the preparation has gone well. If everything goes without problems on race day, Juho will be really hard to beat.

1 ALBANIA M-68 XHERSI KURTI 31-01-1994
2 AUSTRIA M-68 MARK MANUEL 10-11-1985
3 BELARUS M-68 KACHUK ANATOL 12-10-1987
4 BELGIUM M-68 ELERIS MARKO 28-02-1992
5 BULGARIA M-68 TSVETOLYUB ILIEV 22-08-1989
6 CROATIA M-68 GRGIC FILIP 25-10-1989
7 CZECH REP M-68 VIKTOR JANKOVSKY 16-08-1988
8 FINLAND M-68 JUHO KOSTIAINEN 16-08-1983
9 ISRAEL M-68 YEHONATAN EARLY 13-05-1992
10 MOLDOVA M-68 ARVENTII VLADISLAV 19-08-1993
11 MONTENEGRO M-68 RADUNOVIC BALSA 09-28-1990
12 NETHERLANDS M-68 DENNIS BEKKERS 29-11-1980
13 NORWAY M-68 HAMMER JAN PETTER 06-01-1982
14 POLAND M-68 MICHAEL LONIEWSKI 22-10-1988
15 PORTUGAL M-68 MARIO GMOG SILVA 01-01-1993
16 SERBIA M-68 DAMIR FEJZIC 16-04-1994
17 SLOVAK M-68 LIESKOVSKY BORIS 18-06-1993
18 SLOVENIA M-68 JURE PANTAR 16-08-1991
19 SWEDEN M-68 ASHNA MILAD 14-08-1992
20 UKRAINE M-68 HUSAROV HRYHORII 07-09-1993

Men over 87 kg:

Teemu's series is really curly. There are different types of fighters and a lot of experience. Teemu, Zacharia and France's Gentil perhaps represent to some extent the basic heavyweight types, while Italy and Turkey, for example, field athletes who have been successful in smaller divisions, Tanrikulu all the way to an Olympic medal. Success requires good tactical success and finding the right drugs against each opponent. What works against Pascal is definitely not the right tactic to beat the Italian man.

1 AUSTRIA M+80 DECKER CHRISTOPH 25-05-1990
2 AZERBAIJAN M+80 TAVAKGUL BAYRAMOV 06-27-1981
3 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA M+80 ISAKOVIC MUFID 18-03-1988
4 CYPRUS M+80 ANTREAS STYLIANOU 22-04-1985
5 DENMARK M+80 ASIDAH ZAKARIA 22-06-1972
6 FINLAND M+80 TEEMU HEINO 15-12-1976
7 FRANCE M+80 PASCAL GENTIL 15-05-1973
8 GEORGIA M+80 OSIDZE LOSEB 21-10-1984
9 HUNGARY M+80 BALSAZS TOTH 31-08-1983
10 ITALY M+80 MOLFETTA CARLO 15-02-1984
11 SLOVAK M+80 KALISKA TOMAS 18-04-1988
12 SLOVENIA M+80 IVAN TRAJKOVIC 01-09-1991
13 TURKEY M+80 BAHRI TANRIKULU 16-03-1980

Other series:

In the men's category under 58 kilograms, there is one absolute favorite, Spain's Joel Gonzalez. Representatives of Portugal, Croatia and Russia can bet on the other top places. Germany's Levent Tuncat, who has been injured for a long time, makes his comeback to the delight of all spectators. It is interesting to see how well the "flying German" has gotten into shape.

1 ARMENIA M-58 SAMVELYAN HAYKAZ 10-07-1992
2 BELGIUM M-58 BENSALEH SALAHEDDINE 12-05-1996
3 CROATIA M-58 JARLONI STIPE 15-07-1991
4 DENMARK M-58 REYES ROMUALD PHILIP 26-10-1979
5 GERMANY M-58 LEVENT TUNCAT 29-07-1988
6 HUNGARY M-58 SZEKELY NORBERT 16-03-1993
7 ISRAEL M-58 LIRAN MALACHI 16-06-1992
8 MOLDOVA M-58 ROTARU ANDREI 17-05-1993
9 PORTUGAL M-58 RUI P. REBELO BRAGANCA 26-12-1991
10 RUSSIA M-58 ALEXEY DENISENKO 30-08-1993
11 SPAIN M-58 JOEL GONZALEZ BONILLA 30-09-1989
12 SWEDEN M-58 SANLI UNO 05-01-1989
13 SWITZERLAND M-58 JAMES JEMAINE 18-03-1989
14 UKRAINE M-58 BODNAR BOGDAN 31-10-1993

In the women's category under 49 kg, Spain is of course the favorite, but Sweden, Turkey, Israel and Germany are coming at a good pace. The representative of Russia can hardly be left out of the bills either, although his selection can be considered a small surprise.

1 AUSTRIA F-49 SCHOENGGER CHRISTINA 03-10-1993
2 BULGARIA F-49 ILIYANA ENEVA 19-05-1981
3 CYPRUS F-49 STAVROULLA IOSIFAKI 28-03-1987
4 DENMARK F-49 CHRISTENSEN SANDRA BOLGAN 11-04-1990
5 GEORGIA F-49 BERIDZE NINO 07-03-1984
6 GERMANY F-49 SUMEYYE MANZ 30-10-1989
7 HUNGARY F-49 BARBARA DUCZ 25-09-1992
8 IRELAND F-49 JENNIFER HURLEY 29-11-1988
9 ISRAEL F-49 ANNA MIRKIN 18-03-1987
10 ITALY F-49 MASTRANTONI FEDERICA 25-08-1986
11 MONACO F-49 ANOUK PAULINE DORIA 14-10-1991
12 RUSSIA F-49 KRISTINA KIM 04-09-1986
13 SPAIN F-49 BRIGIDA YAGÜE ENRIQUE 15-03-1981
14 SWEDEN F-49 ZAJC HANNA 15-02-1987
15 TURKEY F-49 RUKIYE YILDIRIM 12-02-1991
16 UKRAINE F-49 SOROKA GANNA 05-12-1987

Women under 67 kg:

The favorites in the women's -67 kg category are Greece, Germany and Turkey. Mystakidou is a silver medalist from the Olympic Games in Athens and also represented his country in Beijing. Germany's Fromm is already the European champion from the Italian Games, but has often lost to Turkey in prestigious competitions. The surprise of the series can be, for example, a young Pole who has risen from the bottom of the series to challenge his more experienced competitors.

1 BELARUS F-67 BELANOUSKAYA VIKORYIA 16-07-1991
2 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA F-67 ORTAS EMINA 09-11-1990
3 CZECH REP F-67 SIONA HRADILOVA 11-10-1975
4 GEORGIA F-67 GAGNIDZE IANA 07-07-1986
5 GERMANY F-67 HELENA FROMM 05-08-1987
6 GREECE F-67 MYSTAKIDOU ELISAVET 14-08-1977
7 ICELAND F-67 SARA HVANNDAL MAGNUSDOTTIR 22-06-1990
8 LUXEMBOURG F-67 SCHMIT CHRISTINE MARIE 04-02-1996
9 MOLDOVA F-67 LATUS IULIA 06-06-1991
10 NETHERLANDS F-67 RESHMIE OOGINK 26-10-1989
11 POLAND F-67 KATARZYNA WIECZOREK 08-10-1990
12 SLOVENIA F-67 FRANKA ANIC 05-02-1991
13 SWITZERLAND F-67 KLAEY NINA 19-06-1989
14 TURKEY F-67 NUR TATAR 16-08-1992

The men's under 80 kg are also extremely interesting. Personally, I would put Germany and France at the top. Competitors from Spain, Armenia, Holland and Greece also have success potential.

1 ARMENIA M-80 YEREMYAN ARMAN 29-01-1986
2 BELARUS M-80 KOLAS VITALI 13-04-1987
3 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA M-80 KATANA AMIR 25-02-1990
4 CYPRUS M-80 ANGELOS PANAYIOTOU 15-09-1985
5 CZECH REP M-80 TOMAS HRDINA 21-07-1990
6 FRANCE M-80 MAMEDY DOUCARA 28-07-1981
7 GEORGIA M-80 GOCHIASHVILI SHOTA 09-20-1987
8 GERMANY M-80 ALBERTO CELESTRIN 11-03-1983
9 GREECE M-80 TZELLOS NIKOLAOS 27-04-1990
10 IRELAND M-80 BOBBY ENRIGHT 28-01-1981
11 NETHERLANDS M-80 TOMMY MOLLET 29-03-1979
12 NORWAY M-80 BRATLI EIRIK NILSSEN 01-09-1990
13 POLAND M-80 PIOTR PAZINSKI 07-08-1987
14 SERBIA M-80 STOJAN RABIJAC 12-11-1993
15 SPAIN M-80 NICOLAS GARCIA HEMME 20-06-1988
16 SWITZERLAND M-80 ZUBERI FLAMUR 22-11-1990

From the whole tournament, it can be said that a few favorites emerge in advance, but the level is quite even. All Finns have a chance for an Olympic place. I'm guessing two myself, but I'm not going to guess the series they come from. You can't help but upset those who are busy with work, there is an exciting and hard-level tournament coming up. It would be great to witness the culmination of a project that took over a year and a half.

Sampo Pajulampi