A mixture of acting and dance - this is how you could try to describe kata.
But Jasmin Jüttner does not fully agree with this definition.
The performance that karate specialists like them deliver in this discipline does not only consist of a choreography of martial arts techniques, the right facial and body expression and energetic screams.
“You have to live what you show,” emphasizes the 28-year-old athlete.
The Olympic debutante of the upcoming Tokyo Games has long been devoted to this passion. Her father had once brought her about it in Mömbris, when he read about it in the newspaper while looking for a hobby for his daughter. Only a year passed and the young talent was sure that he had found the right path for himself in the fight without an opponent. “I enjoy doing things a thousand times,” explains the petite young woman. This patience, coupled with her coordinative talent, was not long hidden from national coach Efthimios Karamitsos. Jasmin Bleul, her maiden name, soon moved from Bavaria to the Frankfurt Federal Training Center.
Under the influence of the expert, the native Aschaffenburg grew to a greatness in her profession, won championship titles and medals.
When it became clear that the Olympic Games in Japan would feature karate for the first and perhaps only time, she decided to give everything for it.
After completing her bachelor's degree in media management, Jüttner switched to the Bundeswehr's sports promotion group in 2017 so that she could concentrate exclusively on her training.
Three years of work for one day
She practices several hours a day in the Bornheim dojo. When it was decided that only ten men and ten women would make the leap to the kata decisions in Japan, she knew "it would be very difficult". The team world champion from 2014 had not won a medal at a major event for a long time, "the competition has become brutal".
For three years she worked towards the day when she promised herself the best tickets for the qualification: a tournament in Paris where she had to finish at least third to get the ticket. Everything was geared towards this. Nutrition, regeneration and sleep were optimized, mental training and neuroathletics supplemented the program, and the training method was checked again. "It was horror, really surreal" when the German hope finally came to the decisive competition in the hall.
But she was in a good mood, “I had the feeling that I would finish it”. Almost always in her career she could rely on such premonitions. The Corona year had boosted Jüttner's self-confidence. Despite the break from competitions, her coach always ensured fun, “it was never out of breath”. Then there was this “magic moment”, the moment when she suddenly had the impression that she “understood how to train”, that a “ceiling had been broken open”. She knew "that my karate would not be enough for the Olympics". But now also how to change that.
The pressure remained great.
But confidence was nourished.
"Now I want to get a medal too," says the ambitious fighter optimistically.
On July 23, she will be on the plane to Asia, where she will go to a week-long training camp before her performance on August 5.
What she is particularly pleased about: Her training colleague Ilja Smorguner can take a seat next to her.
A wildcard gives the 37-year-old the honor, as the SC Idstein athlete still missed the trip as fifth in France.
"We went through it all together," says the Wiesbaden resident.
To be able to seize this probably unique opportunity together, and that in the country where the history of their sport can be traced back to the 19th century on the Okinawa Islands, is incredible.
In 2024 in Paris, karate will no longer be Olympic again. Probably the only one to take part without an audience, "I didn't care at all before qualifying". But now that has changed. Jasmin Jüttner would like to share this “once in a lifetime” experience with others. "I wish I could show what I love to as many viewers as possible."