2024 is an Olympic year – all roads lead to Paris from 26 July 2024 to 11 August 2024 and South African Judo star Michaela Geronay Whitebooi is hoping to be on the flight to France to represent her country and create history once again.
Before that happens, Michaela needs to tick a few crucial boxes in order to book a place at the Paris Games. She has made a call to South Africans and prospective sponsors to assist her by making donations to her crowd funding that will enable her to meet the costs associated to her road map to Paris.
She made this call on Social Media: “As I start off my 2024 season, I would humbly ask everyone to support me on this journey by helping me get to all the events on my competition and training camp plan. I have started this crowdfund to ensure I don’t miss out on any event I need to participate in for the qualification process of Paris Olympic Games 2024.
“Your support is highly appreciated. Even the smallest amount can make a difference!!!”
Michaela Geronay Whitebooi, South African Judo Star
Originally from Port Elizabeth, Michaela was born on January 2nd in 1996. In 2007, she won silver in her first competition, on the big stage of the SA Championships. In April 2019, the female judoka won gold at the 40th African Judo Championship, becoming the first South African woman to win Judo Gold at the Champs in 20 years.
Whitebooi put South Africa on the map once more when she claimed a gold medal in the 48kg category, beating her opponent Shushila Devi Likmabam at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Monday, 1 August 2022. Before that she earned bronze at the 2022 Senior African Judo Championships.
Over the years she continues to work hard to produce more consistent performances on the international stage and is currently focused on qualifying for the Olympic Games.
She paints a picture of what her road to qualifying looks like: “I am competing in quite a few events before the Olympic Games. Every single month, I have an event, some I even have 2 events. There is only the Africa Games in March 2024 that doesn’t count points towards qualifying, as for the rest, they are all qualifying events where I will collect points to improve my world ranking.
“There are 7 events in total before the Olympic Games that have to be covered with funding. The funding I receive from SASCOC will allow me to cover a few events for the period until June 2024. There is still quite a bit of funding needed to cover the rest of the events.”
If she does reach her goal of donning the green and gold in Paris, she will re-write the history books: “It will mean that I got to achieve my goal of being the first South African judoka to compete in 2 consecutive Olympic Games. I will get to once again represent SA on the highest level of competition for judo and I will represent my family, friends and community back home.”
Click this Link to make a Donation and Support Michaela’s Beautiful Dream
Photo Caption: Michaela Whitebooi is putting in the hard yards to reach her dream of becoming the first South African Judoka to compete in two consecutive Olympic Games, and she needs sponsorship and donations help to participate in qualification events for Paris 2024. Photo: Supplied
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