The first senior medal came in Tel Aviv in 2019 and then again in Tbilisi the same Spring but then things slowed down and the results dried up. She did place in the top 8 at the Tokyo Games but that wasn’t what Alice was looking for. It wasn’t until the first Portugal Grand Prix in 2022 that she finally stepped on the podium again and she has since medalled at 7 out of 9 events in 2022 and 2023, missing out at the 2022 World Championships.
Gathering results the way she has, during Olympic qualification, is no joke. She climbed to world number one and coming into Doha, that’s where she began her fight day.
Bellandi blasted through the early rounds and looked to be in great condition, heading, potentially, for world gold. However, a mistake in the semi-final brought a loss no-one expected, not Alice and not her opponent, now world champion Inbar Lanir (ISR). Bellandi wasn’t ready to stop pushing though.
“I came for gold and was dreaming about it for a long time before arriving in Doha. It was ok to go step by step but I had done the steps and had the ranking and was ready. I told myself I would win.
The day started hard because I was really nervous. I felt blocked. Then I realised it’s just a competition like any other. So I decided to try to enjoy the moment and express my judo like I do in training every day. For each contest it was almost like I trained and I won and I came back off the tatami and then repeat. I knew how to do that.
What happened in the semi-final seemed impossible to me; when it counts, why? I had a lot of questions. I made a mistake but I had given everything. Sometimes people take advantage of mistakes and that happened to me today. I had 40 minutes after that moment asking myself why. In the end all I could understand was that I had to come back with something and not go home with nothing. So I chose to think about that past fight later as I had to change my focus and win the medal. I had now just one opportunity and I needed to be able to give it my all.”
To fight for the bronze medal, Alice faced Olympic champion Hamada (JPN), who was having her own world championship nightmares. “It was not an easy fight for sure, the hardest of my day but I was there to give my everything for this medal. My biggest nightmare is to go home feeling that I could have done more.
I always fight with myself. I do 1000 correct things but I always watch the one mistake and that is what I always try to fix. In the end I had to really calm myself and enjoy the task and this was really difficult for me as I’m so introspective. I need answers to satisfy the challenges and I need to solve it, always. My first and only opponent is me!”
Now Alice has her first senior world medal but as she told us on her departure from the tatami at the ABHA Arena, “Next Year!” Perhaps we believe her!
