“My mother is like a mathematician. Boom, boom, boom. And my father is like an artist,” describes judoka Ai Tsunoda with her classic shaved head. She was born in Lleida 22 years ago to a Japanese father and a French mother. A real mix. Her parents are her coaches, who visit her regularly in Tokyo, where she went a year and a half ago to study (and not just practice) Martial Arts.
It is not so unusual in the tatami world to share the two facets, family and technical direction. It is less common for this formula to be successful. However, in the Spanish team in Paris, made up of nine judokas, with one case in hand (Ai Tsunoda), two. Ariane Toro (Bilbao, 21 years old), daughter and disciple of Yolanda Soler, bronze in Atlanta 96, and José Toro, who also competed in those Games, have also qualified for the event. “I have never thought much about this double aspect. For me it is something normal and I like it,” says this cheerful girl who arrives in France like a shot. The two, Ari (-52 kilos) and Ai (-70), two youngsters, would not surprise anyone if they reach the podium on the Champ de Mars in Paris with their homemade judo. The first competes on Sunday 28 and the second, on Wednesday 31 (both from 10.00).
Ariane Toro has her mother’s medal almost within sight, on her parents’ nightstand in their home in Pamplona. “I used to look at it more. I think I’m already thinking about mine, but I always tell her that I’m jealous,” confesses this judoka, who entered the Games with a tremendous growth spurt in 2024, with medals in three consecutive Grand Slams and a bronze at the European Championships. She also needed her national competitor (Estrella López Sheriff) to fall out of the qualifying positions. Now she is 32nd and Toro, 11th.
“Something similar happened to my mother for Barcelona 92. They told her she had to win a medal in a major championship. She did it and they told her again that she had to win at the European Championships as well. It was as if they were betting on the other contender. But she won and went,” Ari explains, taking notes from the few videos that have come to her from her parents. “In one, my mother does a technique, an ouchi gari, which I have included in training because it is a very good resource for some rivals,” she says, thinking of a judoka in particular. Who? She doesn’t say it, she keeps it to herself with a mischievous smile. “I did it and it came out well in the Grand Slam in Paris,” she points out about the competition last February that was her turning point, the one that made her go out and really believe it.
“My father gives me a lot kumikatagrip for the rivals. And my mother, more tactical. Since I was little, I have relied a lot on two of her techniques: seoi and kouchi-makikomi”, says this student of Business Administration and Law, who halfway through the course had to leave the Public University of Navarra for the Distance University because they did not help her to combine her studies with sport. Among her future plans, in addition, is to apply for firefighter exams. “My father has always told us to apply, that it is a very good life. And he is right”, she says. Although, for now, Paris and more judo.

At home, Ai, whose name was chosen by her paternal grandfather and which means love in Japanese, has always communicated in French, although her Japanese heritage is evident when she greets and says goodbye with a bow of respect. Judo and Ai are two elements so inseparable that she now also studies it at Tokai University in Tokyo. There she has a couple of teachers, but her parents, thanks to the help of the Higher Sports Council, often go there.
The mother (Céline), the mathematician, takes care of the daily work and accompanies her to competitions. And the father (Go), the artist, is her “teacher”, responsible for “the small details”. “He teaches me everything technical,” says Ai, seventh in the competition. ranking Olympic. “They try to go every month and I come quite often too,” he says.
“They have always been my coaches. I started with my father because my mother was a truck driver in Spain for five years. She left on Sunday and came back on Friday. And then I was with her because my father started working as a coach, in Great Britain, then in Portugal and now in Russia,” explains Ai, who is the fourth generation of judokas in the family, along with her brother Yu. Her paternal grandfather also gives her advice.
“Now in Tokyo I have more time for myself, to think and see my weaknesses. It is changing me,” she says, speaking about an experience that is shaking her personal pillars more than those of judo. Her best senior result (in junior she was world champion in 2021 and 2022) was obtained before packing her bags, when she won the demanding Paris Grand Slam in February 2023 (the same one in which Ariane Toro took off a year later); and this 2024 she took the European bronze. “In Paris I need to do everything well because I am not overpowered either. I want to be uncontrollable for my rivals, although it is still difficult for me,” concludes Ai Tsunoda, demanding of herself, but in the pool of medal contenders she does mix mathematics with art well. It is her homemade recipe on the tatami thanks to a family alliance, like that of Ariane Toro, which is not usually so successful in the judo elite.
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