Nora Gjakova swaps the spotlight for the mat-side role in Wallonia

Nora Gjakova is stepping into a new life in judo, and it’s a move that lands with real weight across Europe. The Kosovo icon, who announced her retirement from competition earlier this year, has joined the Walloon Judo Federation in Belgium as a coach. She will work alongside Pedro Guedes to help shape the next wave of Belgian talent, with their connection going back to Guedes’ brief coaching spell in Kosovo.

A champion’s legacy doesn’t end—it changes shape.

Gjakova’s record is a reminder of what she brings to the training hall. She became Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020 in the U57kg category, and she also delivered major European highlights: European title in Tel Aviv in 2018 and European bronze in Lisbon in 2021. Add World Championship bronze in Budapest in 2021, plus multiple IJF World Tour wins—Grand Prix and Grand Slam golds included, with victories noted in Tbilisi and Baku—and her competitive résumé reads like a roadmap of elite judo.

Her final appearance came at the Paris Grand Slam in 2025. Soon after, she said she understood she no longer wanted to compete, describing the difference between being physically ready and mentally drained. That feeling followed a tough Olympic cycle, made even harder by a major injury five months before the Games and the heavy workload required to return.

The coaching transition moved quickly. In January, she visited the Belgian Open in Herstal at the federation’s invitation, where early talks began. The collaboration officially started on 1 April, and her daily routine now revolves around guiding athletes rather than managing her own competition build-ups.

Even with the new rhythm, the emotions are still close. She has said she rarely does randori now because it hits differently, and she even misses the routines of competition life. As a coach, she remains loyal to the structured Kosovo system built with her long-time mentor Driton Kuka—technique, gripping, and discipline first—while aiming to translate that mindset into results for Wallonia’s judoka, and ultimately, Belgian Olympic ambitions.

Source: JudoInside