For a year and a half, Shirine Boukli has been touching perfection in terms of results. Winner of two Grand Slams (Tel-Aviv and Baku), two European Championships and the Jerusalem Masters, she brought home the silver from the Doha Worlds in early May, where only the Japanese Natsumi Tsunoda, now triple world champion , blocked his way. A medal that whets the appetite of the 24-year-old athlete, world number 1 in the under 48 kg category. She confided at length in “The Crusaders you know”. On the menu: his dynamics, his family, but also jiu-jitsu and… burgers.
You have just inaugurated a dojo in your name at Grigny. Is it in moments like this that you measure how far you’ve come?
Yes, it’s crazy! I am truly honored to have a dojo in my name. When I saw the plate with my name, that’s when I realized. In truth, it’s too stylish!
Not too long ago, you were also welcomed as a star in a school of Draveil.
I was coming back from the World Championships, the young people were waiting for me, making me a hurdle, they had French flags, loud music, they were like phews! I remember a little one: I check him, he turns around and he yells like I’m Selena Gomez! It’s when you experience these kinds of emotions that you realize that you serve as an example to a lot of people.
Is judo really rooted in your family?
I started in the Gard, in the village of Aramon, in the club opened by my uncle. My father had been doing judo with him since he was little. With my brothers, we loved it. The dojo was right in front of the school, we also found our cousins there. I liked to beat myself up. We weren’t allowed to fight at home but on the tatami, yes, so we took advantage of it!
You practiced many different sports in your youth: horse riding, tennis, swimming, etc.
What I liked the most was really swimming and judo. I reconciled the two, until my mother told me to make a choice because it was a lot of back and forth. Today, on the other hand, you put me in a basin, there is nothing left (laughs). I’ve done everything, I’ve even done BJJ (Brazilian jiu-jitsu), grappling, freestyle combat, gymnastics… It’s cool because all sports are complementary, I think that made me happy. allowed to develop many things that other judokas do not have.
You continue to do BJJ by the way. What does it bring you?
It’s complementary with judo because in BJJ, we work a lot on the ground. You win by doing an armbar, a chokehold, etc. In judo, the opponent can hang on the ground. In BJJ, if you block, you are penalized, so I meet opponents who want to work all the time. Now I’m starting to realize certain things, to find openings that I didn’t find before. It’s super interesting, we discover a certain mobility, a fluidity, and we know how to defend, which is very important.
You really emerged on the international scene in 2020 with a European championship title and a victory in Dusseldorf. But in 2021, you took “a pie”, according to Larbi Benboudaoud, at the Games.
I don’t think I would have been selected if the Olympics had taken place in 2020. The one-year lag allowed me to perform, to be European champion for the first time. I did the job, it was a very good year. In 2021, I am seventh for my first Senior World Championships and behind, I lose in the first round at the Olympic Games. Maybe I wasn’t ready compared to others who had been preparing for this for five years. Every day, I took full eyes, I was a little spectator of the event.
Is it a good thing to have discovered this environment before the Paris Games?
Of course, now I know what to expect. It is thanks to what happened in Tokyo that I am this person today. I knew how to bounce back. It’s very hard when you lose and you see everyone in euphoria. Behind, you are made to feel that when you are not a medalist at the Games, you are nobody. This motivates me to say to myself: “What happened there, it will never happen again. This is the last time you see me like this, I’m going to kill everything. “It served me because today, things are going very well. I’m on the right track. I made a world final and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Are you already planning on Paris 2024?
Yes, we think about it all the time. The goal is the Games. The rest is prep. Obviously, the World Championships are important, but everything I do today is for the Games. The closer we get, the fewer mistakes we will have to make. You need a selection, there is competition so even when you have a medal in the world, you have to quickly move on.
Where does your nickname come from, “mini-body”?
I’ve always been in the very small categories. There, I am in 48 kilos, before I was in -44, -40, -36. When I entered Insep, I was tiny, very thin, I was barely 48 kilos. I’ve put on some muscle so I’m a bit over it now, but I’ve always been called a mini-body. They even made me a belt where it is written (laughs).
How do you manage your weight precisely?
You must be at the weight during the weigh-in, the day before the competition. I weigh around 51 kilos so I diet to lose between 3 and 3.5 kilos, two weeks before. I am followed by a nutritionist. As a general rule, I “deprive myself” only when I have competitions. For example, if I don’t have a lot of activity, there’s no point in eating a lot of starchy foods, so I’ll prioritize vegetables, always with protein.
What do you enjoy yourself on after a competition?
The burgers are really not bad! Afterwards, on the evening of the competition, it’s complicated to eat because during the day, we snack on bars, we drink exercise drinks, protein… We’re full! In the evening, there is not too much room in the stomach! Burger and fries, it goes well anyway. When you’ve worked and you finish your day in front of the TV with your burger and your little coke, it’s so good!
In 2022, you joined a business school in Lyon. Can you tell us about this course?
It is suitable for athletes. We are in distanciel, we have the replay of the courses and we organize ourselves as we want. We have marketing, digital communication, a bit of finance, law, etc. With my sponsors, I was able to go to certain companies, discuss their job with managers, communication directors, and I really liked that. The course that I follow is quite complete and behind it, it gives me a lot of choice. I’m happy, it feels good to do something other than judo. It’s important to open up to other things and to other people, to clear your mind.