Gabriella (Gaby) Willems (born 1 July 1997) is a Belgian

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, winner of the bronze medal at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

Personal history

Willems grew up in Barchon,

Liège Province Liège (; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Du ...

, Belgium. Her first name is testament to her Italian heritage, her father having emigrated from the

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

region, Italy to work in the Belgian coalmines. She attended primary school in Verviers where she tried her hand at gymnastics, swimming, karate and dance before turning to judo and joining amateur club ''J.C. Andrimont'' in Dison at the age of 6. Although she later decided to train professionally at other clubs, she always stayed a member of ''J.C. Andrimont'' and presented herself as such at the

in Paris. Willems attended Athénée royal Thil Lorrain in Verviers where she obtained in 2015 her CESS (Certificat d'enseignement secondaire supérieur). Willems is in a relationship with Italian judoka,

Christian Parlati Christian Parlati (born 23 January 1998) is an Italian judoka. He won one of the bronze medals in the men's 81 kg event at the 2021 European Judo Championships held in Lisbon, Portugal. He also represented Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics ...

. The couple lives in Naples where both train at the Parlati-family founded and managed Nippon Club.

Career

Having won several youth national titles, Willems won her fist senior national title in 2016. Willems first rose to international prominence winning a bronze medal at the

2017 World Judo Juniors Championships The 2017 World Judo Juniors Championships was an edition of the World Judo Juniors Championships, organised by the International Judo Federation. It was held in Zagreb, Croatia from 18–21 October 2017. The final day of competition featured a mi ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia. Two weeks later she was crowned a second time senior national champion. Willems was the silver medalist of the

2020 Judo Grand Slam Düsseldorf The 2020 Judo Grand Slam Düsseldorf was held at the ISS Dome in Düsseldorf, Germany from 21 to 23 February 2020. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Source Results Medal table References External links * {{Authority contr ...

in the 70 kg category. She started 2021 well, with a 5th placing at the

2021 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv The 2021 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv was held at the Drive in Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel from 18 to 20 February 2021. Medal summary Men's events Source Results Women's events Source Results Medal table Event videos The event will air fre ...

in mid-february and a bronze medal at the

2021 Judo Grand Slam Tbilisi The 2021 Judo Grand Slam Tbilisi was held at the Tbilisi Sports Palace in Tbilisi, Georgia from 26 to 28 March 2021. Medal summary Medal table Men's events Source Results Women's events Source Results Event videos The event was air f ...

in March. Being close to qualifying for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, in a fight against Barbara Matic, Willems tore the cruciate ligaments of her right knee at the 2021 Judo Grand Slam in

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, putting an end to her Olympic dreams for Tokyo. Following a lengthy recovery period, Willems re-entered competition a year later at the

2022 European Judo Championships The 2022 European Judo Championships was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 29 April to 1 May 2022. Event videos The event will air freely on the IJF YouTube channel. Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events Participating n ...

. In October and November of that year, she won silver medals at the

2022 Judo Grand Slam Abu Dhabi The 2022 Judo Grand Slam Abu Dhabi was held at the Jiu-Jitsu Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 21 to 23 October 2022 as part of the IJF World Tour and during the 2024 Summer Olympics qualification period. Medal summary Men's event ...

and

2022 Judo Grand Slam Baku The 2022 Judo Grand Slam Baku was held at the Heydar Aliyev Sport Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 4 to 6 November 2022 as part of the IJF World Tour and during the 2024 Summer Olympics qualification period. Medal summary Men's events Women's ...

. Willems's good form continued in to 2023 and she won a bronze medal at the

2023 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv The 2023 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv is a Judo Grand Slam tournament that was held at the Drive in Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel, from 16 to 18 February 2023 as part of the IJF World Tour and during the 2024 Summer Olympics qualification period. Meda ...

. But then, more injuries: first, Willems had to undergo Latarjet surgery to treat recurrent shoulder dislocations and then, upon her return to competition in the

2023 Judo World Masters The 2023 Judo World Masters was held at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary, from 4 to 6 August 2023 as part of the IJF World Tour and during the 2024 Summer Olympics qualification period. Medal summary Men's events S ...

in September, in warm-up, she suffered another cruciate ligament tear in the same right knee she injured before. After another lengthy recovery period, Willems returned to competition at the 2024 European Judo Championships where she was eliminated in the 2nd round. Willems had little time to gather the necessary points to qualify for the Games. Needing to finish at least 5th at the 2024 World Judo Championships in order to qualify for the

, she managed to do just that and booked her ticket for Paris. At the

Willems upset competitors ranked 2, 5, and 7 on her way to winning the bronze medal in the Women's 70 kg category.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willems, Gabriella 1997 births Living people Belgian female judoka European Games competitors for Belgium Judoka at the 2019 European Games 21st-century Belgian sportswomen Olympic judoka for Belgium Judoka at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in judo Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Belgium