Paris 2024 Olympics: “I believe in my potential, I know what I am capable of”, assures Gardoise Shirine Boukli

Shirine Boukli had won a third European title in Montpellier. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

Three years after her elimination in the first round in Tokyo, Gardoise Shirine Boukli returns more mature and stronger from the victories in front of her home crowd for the European Championship in Montpellier and the Paris tournament. She wants to prove it, this Saturday, July 27, for her debut in competition, in under 48 kg. 

With a knife between her teeth. This is the state of mind in which Shirine Boukli will appear this Saturday, July 27, at 10 a.m., on the tatami at the temporary Grand Palais, for her debut in competition, in under 48 kg.

With a double mission for her, to forget the failure of Tokyo in 2021 and to launch the French judo team well in the Olympic Games on home soil. A task that the 25-year-old from Gard seems able to take on. She is no longer the comet that came out of nowhere in 2021 and had conquered Europe to everyone's surprise.“I gained experience and self-confidence. We progress every day and all the time. Even if I don't necessarily work on new things, I'm perfecting the ones I already knew how to do and others that I haven't been able to implement yet."

A form of physical and technical maturity that she developed during these three years. “By dint of repeating work, going here and there to do internships, learning in fact. Doing things that I like and why I do them. That's what allowed me to shape myself and continue to train”, assures the young woman who already had this temperament when she started judo at the age of 4 near Aramon.

Where her uncle Kader ran the club and where her father and brothers also practiced their scales. Little Shirine took more than her share. "I liked to stay after but also before training, I stayed on the sidelines or participated in other people's sessions. For me it's more a story of competition, of an opposition sport that I love."

The woman with two faces

Indeed, behind this pretty smile adorned with dental rhinestones hides a strong character. "There are two Shirines, there are two aspects of me. On a tatami in competition, it's not the same Shirine as in everyday life. I have this thing of being a warrior, of wanting to put on ippons, of going into a fight, of winning. This does not mean that when I was younger, I beat myself up at school. On the contrary, I made myself very small. There are two opposites that serve me well."

She lives up to her first name, which means sweet, charming, pleasant in the Persian language. Adjectives that suit her well in everyday life but are not the same as soon as she steps onto the tatami. “My parents and my family are like that, Kader too, with a competitive spirit. They are passionate about judo, who like to surpass themselves and win. I am like that too.”

A state of mind and mental strength that allowed her to get back up after the disappointment of Tokyo. “I believe in my potential, I know what I'm capable of. In Tokyo, it wasn't really me, I didn't show my abilities at all, I wasn't going to stop there, I didn't get what I hoped for given my work and that the future had great things in store for me. I wasn't going to dwell on these regrets and I didn't give up."

Pressure-tight

The Flam 91 member proved in the following competitions her ability to bounce back and perform in major competitions, as proven by her two other European titles and her silver medal at the world championships. Ignoring the pressure in front of her family in Montpellier and then during the Paris tournament she won and which gave her a new Olympic chance.

“I don't think about it, I live day by day, I look at what I have to do tomorrow. I love my competition”, she assures. Helped by this by her daily work of mental preparation. “It's like a brain workout. There's visualization and awareness work. We also talk, sometimes it's just a dialogue, to do good.”

As you can see, the Nîmes native left nothing to chance to be ready on D-Day, even if she's aware that this will also be the case for her opponents.“The Olympic Games are special, all the girls are strong and must be respected, it could be one girl's day and not another's. Anything can happen. We'll take the girls one by one, but it's true that I'm fixated on the Japanese Natsumi Tsunoda because she beat me in the final of the world championship. The other girls are weaker than her, but she might be beaten first."

A confidence in herself and in her ability to perform on the first day that was corroborated by the president of the French Judo Federation, Stéphane Nomis. For Shirine, it's gold to win a medal.

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