History on the mats

An elated Sydnee Andrews after winning her bronze medal bout in the women’s 78 kilograms-plus division of the Zagreb Grand Prix. The points she gained lifted her to 24 on the world rankings and 23rd on the Olympic rankings. Picture by Tamara Kulumbegashvili/IJF

Paris, she’s coming for ya.

Well, not quite yet, but Gisborne judoka Sydnee Andrews continues to make all the right moves towards wearing the fern at the pinnacle of global sport — the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Creating a bit of New Zealand history in Croatia at the weekend will have helped immensely.

The 20-year-old Andrews produced a stunning bronze medal-winning performance in the women’s 78 kilograms-plus category at the Zagreb Grand Prix to move up the world and Olympic Games qualifying rankings.

“It’s the best result a New Zealander has ever got in a tournament at that level,” said GJC head coach Jason King, who watched the rising star judoka continue her outstanding progress in the wee hours of the morning.

“It’s unheard of. Even the commentators were going ‘where has this New Zealander come from? She’s made history for New Zealand’.”

Her response to that?

“I’m going to keep making history,” she messaged to proud coach King.

Andrews, who had previously not got past the first round of a GP event, equalled that in the Croatian capital when she comfortably beat Brazilian Victorian De Oliveira.

It put her into a second-round bout against Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Larisa Ceric, who went into the tournament ranked 23rd in the world to Andrews’ 30th.

Andrews, in King’s words, “ground out a tough one” to win and set up a top-eight fight against Turkey’s Hilal Ozturk, ranked 17th in the world.

 King said of the Turk, beat Andrews in “a good match”.

In making the top eight, Andrews got the chance of a repechage and a shot at bronze.

She fought Dominican Republic’s Moira Morillo, another competitor ranked higher than Andrews and who had beaten the Kiwi last year.

Andrews exacted revenge to set up a bronze medal duel with France’s Samah Camara.

King pointed out that outside of Japan, France is one of the leading countries in judo — two of the world’s top three judoka in Andrews’ weight category are Frenchwomen.

Camara is not one of those but won the Sofia European Open in February.

King sent a message of support to Andrews before the fight.

“Just one more,” she replied.

“Syd was a couple of penalties down (and facing potential defeat), King said. “The French girl came in to throw her, Syd blocked her and drove her on to her back (to win by ippon).

“I just about jumped off the couch. It was amazing. The commentators were all saying the same thing . . . it’s history for New Zealand.”

Andrews’ performance also significantly boosted her rankings. She advanced six places up the world rankings to 24 but more importantly, jumped to No.23 on the Olympic points rankings — well inside the cut-off for qualification.

A “very proud” King told Andrews to “keep doing what you’re doing. You’re where you are meant to be”.

While not wanting to get too far ahead, King felt this performance was close to “clipping her ticket” for Paris.

“We’ve sent Kiwis to the Olympics who have never got results like she has.”

Andrews is also lifting her international profile.

A photo taken of her signing autographs for young judo fans at the Zagreb GP is hopefully a sign of things to come.