Whitebooi sets sights on Paris 2024

Following her career milestone at the Commonwealth Games, judoka Michaela Whitebooi has quickly turned her focus to the 2024 Olympic Games. 

Whitebooi brought home a gold medal from the recent tournament in Birmingham, where she was one of only 27 South African medalists - more proudly just one of seven gold winners.

The 26-year-old overcame her tragedy of being eliminated in her first fight at the Tokyo Olympics last year and marched through three fights in one day en route her career highlight thus far.

She has recently been nominated for a GSport Athlete of the Year award, alongside fellow Commonwealth Games gold medalist and swimmer Lara van Niekerk, as well as Banyana Banyana star Hildah Magaia, and says her success is proving fruitful in her bid to attract financial support in the sport.

"Firstly, the medal means a lot to women in general because a lot of women compete internationally in judo, so it means a lot for women in general and the sport in general because in 2018 there was no Commonwealth Games for judo," Whitebooi told SABC Sport.

"So, just missing that Commonwealth and now coming back, we brought back two medals which is really good for a team of four players that went there.

"But I definitely see there's more support coming my way, I'm not too sure about the other people or players, but there is some word out there that I will get more support, so I'm really happy about that.

"It will make things way easier for me and the financial struggles I have in this sport, to just calmly train and know that when I have to go to a camp or competition, everything will be sorted out, and that I can train at the best of my ability to obviously try and qualify for Paris 2024."

By Mazola Molefe