Michaela Whitebooi explains rationale behind changing judo coach

The 27-year-old will soon officially work alongside Sensei William Rene Matike-Ndoumbe, a well-respected Cameroon-born mentor in the fraternity. 

Whitebooi, speaking exclusively to SABC Sport, explained the rationale behind the approach as this is considered to be the middle of her qualification journey to the multi-sport event.  

“I am not going to lie, I feel like after the Commonwealth Games I took a dip with my sports and some of the achievements. I almost felt like I didn’t want to go back into competing,” she said. 

“A lot of people are asking me why do now – it’s a crazy time for me to do it. But I feel like it was necessary for me to do it because if I didn’t, I was probably going to stop. I felt like I was stuck at a certain level and I needed to grow. So, in order for me to do that I had to make changes.” 

Whitebooi was one of seven gold medalists for SA in Birmingham last year, making it to the podium in the women’s 48kg judo category – and as things stand she has a quota qualification for the Olympics based on her ranking in Africa. 

However, she will only know for sure early next year whether she will travel to France and Matike-Ndoumbe is a welcome addition. 

Whitebooi was part of Team SA at the delayed 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo and she is hoping her new coach will be part of her pursuit to make it a second successive qualification. 

“There’s no other place other than training in Tuks to be able to go to that level in South Africa. I had to go outside the borders, but close enough for me not to be too far away. He is the head coach of Botswana and he is a very positive person,” she concluded.