“I lost judo, I won my life”

“I decided to retire from judo. I called the British Union yesterday and informed them that I was not going to the Tokyo Olympics. I finally had the courage to say it after a long time that I realized that judo is no longer the same for me and that I will not miss it. I lost the judo. ‘Du, I earned my life.’ Alice Schlesinger, one of Israel’s top three judokas of all time, decided to hang up her suit at the age of 32.

The medal-winning Schlesinger, who has competed in three Olympics, sat last night at her home in Ness Ziona for an interview in which there were both smiles and tears, which reflected the ups and downs of her career. From the achievements and medals, through the conflict with the Israeli Judo Association, the transition to representing Britain to the day of its retirement.

“As soon as it became clear to me that the Tokyo Olympics had been postponed to this summer, I was shocked,” she says. “I was hoping it would happen on time or be canceled altogether, just not that I would have to make a decision about my career. I went into the room and cried, I thought, ‘What will I do now,’ and decided to recalculate a route. I enrolled in many psychology courses. I took a correlation test to begin my master’s degree in clinical psychology. ”

When did you realize that the judo story was over?
“I won a silver medal at the European Games in Minsk in 2019, but I got to the room and I was just crying. I did not feel like I did one of the highlights of my career, it did not atone for what I experienced. I sent a message to my psychologist and said it did nothing, that something in me died. “My last was in February 2020. Two months before that I suffered a cervical disc herniation, I was in a serious condition and suffered at an insane level. To this day I have not returned to full function in the hand, I still have currents in my fingers and shoulders.”

Last night, Schlesinger called her coach and the professional director of the British Association and informed them of the decision to retire and not go to the games in Tokyo. “Usually retirement is the hardest thing for athletes, but in my case, after what I experienced, it is less difficult. I came to it from a whole place. I could have continued while suffering, but I finally realized that judo will no longer be as worldly as it used to be.”

Schlesinger announced in 2013 her intention to move to represent the UK after a difficult dispute with the Judo Association and its head Moshe Ponti, who she claimed preferred Jordan Jarbi, tried to force her to move up to the 70kg weight category and harassed her when she refused. “You grow up as an athlete on values ​​that it’s something clean, and then you get the real hat from a person like Ponty and find out that all you grew up on is bullshit,” she says. “Only in my mental recovery process in the last three years did I realize the mental wound I had. I tried to push what I was going through and it manifested itself later in anxiety attacks. There was one time two years ago that I could not breathe anymore, as if the earth had swallowed me. After this incident I had already decided to retire, but just then something suddenly came loose in me, and then I informed my husband Pavel (Musin) that I wanted to return. I flew to Australia and won a medal, and I did an amazing competition in Japan. “

In retrospect, did judo do you good or bad?
“Bad. All my connotations today for judo include bad things even though I know it’s not like that. I also know what he gave me, the pursuit of excellence for example, I did not just graduate with honors in psychology, but I have the stain, the wound that will accompany me “.

What was the hardest moment you experienced?

“The morning I was told I was not being released to the UK. I felt helpless, it broke me that I had no control over my life, and then the thoughts started as to why I should go on living. After a few days I said to Pavel: ‘I want to commit suicide, leave a letter What do you do here for an athlete who represents the country (bursts into tears). ‘I wanted there to be a boom in the country, that an athlete committed suicide and all those people who could stop it, would wake up. “.

After an hour of interview, her husband-coach Pavel enters the house with a bouquet of flowers. “I do not know if it is joy or sadness, I did not sleep all night,” he says. “The whole period was one big nightmare. Every training or trip became crisis after crisis, extreme moods. It was not the same Alice.” Schlesinger says in tears: “We came back from weightlifting in one of the competitions and Pavel told me, ‘I do not know how I stayed with you for a year and a half until Rio, I married someone else, but I did not feel comfortable leaving you during this period.’ I was a sad, very nervous woman “

After you moved to represent the UK, do you meet with your former friends for the Israeli team?

“They were instructed not to talk to me. I became the leper of the State of Israel. Wherever they could, I was slandered, they talked to my English coaches against me. They brainwashed me for the entire Israeli team.”

Ponty will argue that the decision to prefer Jerby was right, a fact that she won an Olympic medal.
“From the moment Ponty came to power and Shani Hershko coached Jerby, she received preferential treatment. That was exactly the period I was supposed to be at my peak, I was ranked fourth in the world upon returning from London, and instead my soul was murdered.”

What was the big moment in your career?

“Winning a bronze medal at my first European Championship in 2008 in Portugal, from which I reached the Beijing Olympics.”

And the big miss?

“The loss in the semi-finals of the European Championship in Tel Aviv to Slovenian Tina Trestniak. A huge miss, I was on a podium day. “

What about building a family?
“It was clear to me that as an athlete I would not be a mother. Now I will take a few months of quiet with myself, and then Pavel and I will discuss it.”

The Judo Association responded: “Schlesinger never stops trying to recycle past lies that have been chewed countless times, but a lie does not become true even if repeated over and over again. We emphasize that things never were. Schlesinger and her husband went on an ugly lie against the union and its leader “This misconduct was filed in a defamation lawsuit in the amount of four million shekels against the couple, which is being clarified in court.”