Pristina (AFP)
Olympic champion Majlinda Kelmendi is the most illustrious example: young and small nation, Kosovo has emerged as a power of world judo, a miracle born in a neighborhood of the small town of Pec.
This success allows the small Kosovo and its 2 million inhabitants to post eleven years after the proclamation of its independence from Serbia and after only one participation in the summer Olympics, a Olympic prize more provided than its neighbor, the great Albanian brother who has never won a medal at the Games.
It was with the children of Asllan Çeshme district, in the multi-ethnic town of Pec (Serbian name, Peja in Albanian), that Driton "Toni" Kuka built this success. With his brothers, he created his judo club, "Ippon". A training room with a leaky roof and poor carpets did not prevent it from producing champions, as the authorities decided only very recently to finance its renovation.
"I'm sure that if there was no Toni, Kosovo would not have all these medals today, especially Olympic gold," Majlinda Kelmendi, 28, a national hero told AFP. she climbed onto the top step of the podium in Rio.
In this poor country where football is the king's sport, the judokas can hardly hope for the help of the public authorities, with only 250,000 euros in annual subsidies, according to Toni Kuka. The total budget of the Ministry of Sports is 17 million euros.
- The revenge of Kuka -
World, European and Olympic champion, Majlinda Kelmendi is the brightest star of the Kuka band. But she is not alone anymore.
In its wake, it involves a whole group, who wants his share of titles. Distria Krasniqi is world junior champion, Nora Gjakova, 28, won bronze at the Euro.
"In the different age categories, we now have fifteen judokas who have reached the highest level," says Toni Kuka. Most come from the same neighborhood.
Aged 48, this former judoka had a revenge to take on history: in the 1990s, the war explosion of the former Yugoslavia broke his own career. In 1992, as the Barcelona Olympics approached, he was the best judoka in his category (-71kg at the time) and a favorite.
But since 1989, the situation is explosive in Kosovo, where the Albanian majority is subjected to the yoke of the strong man of Belgrade, Slobodan Milosevic.
As part of a broad civic resistance movement orchestrated by the "father of the nation," Ibrahim Rugova, Albanian athletes withdrew from Yugoslav selections. "My Olympic dream has broken," recalls Tony Kuka, who says he beat all the medalists in Barcelona.
- A dojo in the ruins -
At the end of the war (1998-99), when the NATO strikes force Belgrade to withdraw its troops, it bases its dojo of Asllan Çeshme, deprived district on the foothills of the neighboring mountains, which the inhabitants find destroyed in their return. Their children are his first pupils. "Kosovo was in ruins and the children traumatized," he recalls.
Among the first, figure Kelmendi who lived "100 meters from the room," recalls the coach. "I did not know anything about this sport, but I was happy, kids, we had nothing else to do something out of the ordinary," recalls the champion, who after her world and Olympic titles to bring his people down to the street to celebrate.
"We have transformed children who have suffered from the war into world champions, by measuring us to countries like France, Japan or Brazil that have thousands of judokas available to build their selections," he says. .
For sports journalist Arsim Maxhera, Kelmendi "is the biggest success story in the country, not just sports." "There is no title that has now escaped" these "judokas from a single neighborhood".
It is from now on Tokyo, where after the Mondials this summer will be held the Olympics 2020, that want to conquer the children of Asllan Çesme. Gjakova announces his intention to go to Japan "to crown all this work with a medal".
Kuka already has the feeling of having won his revenge on the story: "My dream that was half-broken one day, has now achieved 100%." In Pec (Peja), there are now five clubs, with 400 to 500 practitioners.
© 2019 AFP