Winning gold medals at major judo championships seems to be the favourite pastime of the Breytenbach twins, Donné and Thomas from TuksSport High School.

They actually seem quite unstoppable in their quest for gold. At the recent Commonwealth Judo Championships in Port Elizabeth, which was also a national ranking tournament, the two of them managed to win four gold medals in their respective weight categories.

What was impressive about the twins’ performance is that they won 16 of their 17 fights with ippons.

An ippon is awarded for a technique which is judged as decisive. It is usually a move which connects cleanly, with good form and with little opportunity for the opponent to defend against it.

“It is quite exciting to see Donné fighting because she usually manages to win within 30 seconds,” said a proud Thomas.

The twins ascribe their success to the ‘teaching’ of Nikola Filipov (head coach at Tuks/HPC) and the support and camaraderie of the judoka at Tuks Judo Club.

“Nikola is like a second dad to us. A strict but fair dad,” explains Donné

“Nikola is an amazing coach. What I really appreciate about him is that he makes sure that he always stays up to date with what is happening in international judo. He spends hours on the internet every day, doing research, sending emails or skyping the coaches of top judokas to exchange ideas with them.”

Thomas agrees that Filipov goes out of his way to ensure that they train exactly the same as most of the top judokas in the world.

“He is an absolute perfectionist. When he demonstrates a new technique, he does not accept half measures. He will make you do the same thing over and over again until you get it right.

“He is also a master when it comes to getting you in the right mindset. According to him pain should never be a factor. If you get hurt during a fight, you only start worrying about it afterwards.”

Donné adds that Filipov is also a master strategist.

“In my final at the Commonwealth Championships I was not sure which technique I should use to ensure a victory. Nikola immediately knew what I should do. I followed his advice and won,” said Donné.