By: Dawda Baldeh
Faye Njie, a Finnish born Gambian professional Judoka, who moved from playing football to Judo champion and recently won a silver medal for Gambia in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in London, has narrated his professional career to The Fatu Network.
The 28-year-old judoka said he started playing football at six, and at eight, he began to play judo. He confirmed to this medium that he has been into judo for two decades.
“I have been playing judo for 20 years. I started judo when I was 8 years old. I started representing Gambia in 2015 and qualified to the Olympics. I also qualified to the Olympics last year (2021) and now my aim is to qualify for Paris 2024,” he explained.
The judo silver medal winner, after making history for Gambia in London, said he has always been into sports for many years.
“Before judo, I was playing football and I did both sports for a few years until I had no time to do both anymore. I decided to focus on judo because I liked its versatility. In judo, one must be agile, fast, explosive, and probably above all strong physically and mentally.”
Highlighting some of the dark moments in trying to reach this level, Faye said: “I could mention couple of serious injuries as the hardest setbacks in my career. However, I have recovered from them perfectly and they have no negative impact on my daily training sessions.”
The Gambian judo champion also explained that his brightest moments in his career was winning his silver medal during the African games in 2015.
Asked about what makes that so special, he said; “What makes it so special is that it was the very first time representing The Gambia officially. So, I really wanted to put on a good impression of myself at the beginning of my career as a Gambian,” he noted.
He also cited his recent performance at the Commonwealth games as another special moment in his professional career.
“Off course, winning silver medal for my country was a great moment. It was a great moment to make history. So, it meant a lot to me but also for the nation. I hope this medal can inspire the future generations to aim for the gold medal.”
Asked about who he looks up to as a role model, Faye told this medium that he never had a mentor or an idol to follow, but he always enjoyed doing sports and “it’s still my biggest passion in life.”
“My long-term goal is to qualify for the Paris 2024 games and the ultimate goal is to bring first ever Olympic gold medal for The Gambia.”
Judo is a system of unarmed combat, modern Japanese martial art, and Olympic sport. Judo was created in 1882 by Kano Jigoro as an electric martial art, distinguishing itself from its predecessors due to an emphasis on ‘randori’ (Japanese term meaning free-style practice) instead of “kata” alongside its removal of striking and weapon training elements.
