South Africa judo duo Geronay Whitebooi and Charné Griesel fighting for the marginalised

Geronay Whitebooi's and Charné Griesel's know a few things about breaking barriers.

The South African's own encounters with judo have sent them on an unexpected path of discovery, whether dealing with anxiety or coming to grips with the untold hardship many in the country faced.

Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Geronay Whitebooi initially hoped to use judo to help support her family when she received a scholarship at the University of Pretoria. The financial management graduate has since expanded her network of influence, hoping to inspire the next generation of judokas.

"I get this question a lot, and it's even something I sometimes think about. Why am I still doing this? I put myself through so much pain, so much pressure, and so much anxiety," Whitebooi said.

"It's almost like I want to break barriers of the sport in South Africa, and I want to show that we can do it or I can do it. And if I can break this pattern, then there's a way for the other players, the younger players, to also do it."

Read more: How to qualify for judo at Paris 2024

You can watch this week's Grand Prix of Manchester live on Olympics.com. Here are the details. 

Geronay Whitebooi: Making sacrifices

The 26-year-old Whitebooi has already left an indelible mark on the sport, becoming only the third female judoka to represent South Africa at the Olympic Games. Whitebooi was the first woman in nearly 20 years to step onto the tatami at the Games when she made her debut in Tokyo 2020.

Reaching the Games was the culmination of years of blood, sweat and plenty of tears after she left her single-parent mother and siblings for TuksSport High School in Pretoria when she was 14 years old.

"I think my mother decided to enter me into the programme because she knew that with my dad's passing, she had to take care of the family," Whitebooi said.

"So she had to make the sacrifice to send me away, even at that age where she didn't want to let go of me because I was young. But she made the sacrifice, and it made a big difference in my life."

Looking to reward her mother for her sacrifices, Whitebooi set out to excel both in her sport and her studies. Whitebooi has undoubtedly delivered on that goal, becoming a two-time African champion, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and making her Olympic debut.

Although she had achieved almost everything she had dreamt about as a young girl, Whitebooi was left with a sense of discontent after Tokyo. The global pandemic has taken some shine off the experience of the Olympics. Whitebooi recovered from COVID-19 in the buildup to the showpiece, was knocked out in her first round, and left Tokyo with only a tiny taste of competing at the Games and life in the athlete's village.

"It is after the Olympic Games that it hit me the most. It felt like I was almost not at the Olympic Games. And yes, you are an Olympian, but what do you get for it? I came back, and I'm still living the same life I had before the Olympic Games," Whitebooi said.

"I still needed to train hard. I still needed to find funding. It's great to be an Olympian, but there is the stress and anxiety afterwards. Will I go back to qualify for Paris, spending another four years of my life just training and giving it to the sport? Or can I change my career, work for what I studied, and make more money than I'm getting for putting my body through so much pain?"

Geronay Whitebooi: Looking after her mental health

Whitebooi has since found some answers to her questions and among these is to look better after her mental health. And while Whitebooi has her sights set firmly on Paris 2024, where she hopes to be among the medal contenders, she is also looking at life beyond the tatami.

"You need a variety of things to balance your life, to know that after sports, you have opportunities that are open for you," she said.

"During the Tokyo Olympic cycle, I would go to a psychologist, but I never made it a priority and didn't look after my body. Now I speak to psychologists regularly because it is draining. Training every day, you have stress from the outside and other people, and you still need to focus because you have goals in mind."

Whitebooi said she also did not fully realise what her successes meant for aspiring young girls. Using her influence and experience, Whitebooi has thrown her weight behind team-mate Griesel's project to uplift marginalised youths through judo.

Charné Griesel: Using judo as a vehicle for change

The idea to use judo as a tool of empowerment was planted when one of the judokas Charné Griesel coached highlighted the plight of the youth who fell into substance dependence, leading them further into the poverty trap. The judo player, a master's student in occupational therapy, was researching substance abuse in two townships in the east of South Africa's capital city.

"She said the most common cause for children and teens going into drugs so young and going into that was because of boredom," Griesel said.

"We started brainstorming introducing them to judo because the moral values you learn in judo can be brought through daily life."

When the 22-year-old Griesel launched her judo club in Eersterust earlier this year, nothing could prepare her for the desperation that would greet her.

"Recently, I had to pick up my two kids at their home to go to the South African judo championships. It was a big social shock because I come from a middle-class background," Griesel said.

"The one child we collected up stays in one of the notorious streets in Pretoria East, where you can pick up any drug you want. It is so tempting for them to choose that lifestyle."

Charné Griesel: Armed with judo values

Armed with the eight judo values – courage, respect, modesty, friendship, honour, honesty, self-control and courtesy – Griesel and other students started with community engagement in June this year, working with 30 children between the ages of seven and 18.

Sketching a picture of the dire situation of many of the children, Griesel said many of the youngsters were in poor health due to their socio-economic conditions.

"I weighed my children when they recently went to the South African Schools Championships. And they would say in a good month their weight would, for example, be 48 kilograms, and in a bad month, it would be 44kg.

"I struggled to comprehend this because I've never heard of good and bad months," Griesel said.

"They explained that a good month is when they can put food on the table, and they have food every day. A bad month is when they are unable to do that. And because it has been so hot lately, it is difficult for them to hydrate, and they come to training with headaches, and they aren't that energetic."

With limited resources as a student-run programme, Griesel has been able to provide the children with judogis (uniform) courtesy of the broader judo community at the University of Pretoria and the Tshwane region.

In just four months, the programme has delivered tangible and intangible results, with Griesel saying she had noticed a marked improvement in some players' confidence.

At the recent South African Schools Judo Championships, two of the players from Eersterust won titles in their age group and weight classes.

"They came back with two gold medals which are amazing considering we started four months ago, and now they are South African champions. I hope by them doing this, they would unite the community and make the community realise that their kids could do well in this. Maybe they would bring more kids so that it can motivate and inspire more kids to do this instead of being on the street and all of that."

Whitebooi and Griesel missed out on competing at the recent Judo World Championships and will now focus their attention on earning ranking points towards qualifying for Paris 2024. The South African duo will be in action at the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Abu Dhabi held between 21 and 23 October.