Judo
Charline Van Snick (33) says goodbye to the tatami. The London 2012 Games, where she won bronze, remains her highlight.
Charline Van Snick is hanging up her judo uniform at the age of 33. She announced this on Tuesday during a press conference in Liège. The Olympic medal she won at the 2012 Games in London was the highlight of her career, which also had a dark side with a doping affair in 2013.
Van Snick made her debut with the seniors in 2010, after having proven her potential in the youth categories with, among other things, a European junior title in 2009. In the class up to 48 kg she immediately won gold at the World Cup round in Sofia and she won her first European Championship with bronze . This was followed by gold medals at the World Cup in Birmingham and the Grand Prix of Rotterdam.
The highlight followed in 2012 with a third place at the Games in London. Van Snick lost her semi-final against the Brazilian favorite Sarah Menezes, but then defeated the Argentinian Paula Pareto in the battle for bronze. It would be the only Olympic medal she won in her career.
Cocaine
In 2013, the Liège woman continued on this path with bronze at the World Cup, but on October 14 she was suspended after a positive test for cocaine during the same World Cup. Van Snick immediately proclaimed her innocence and claimed to be the victim of sabotage. The International Tribunal for Sport (TAS) canceled the suspension on July 4, 2014, but she nevertheless lost the bronze medal.
Van Snick subsequently recovered and won her first European title in Baku in 2015. A year later she extended it in Kazan, but the success was not followed up at the Rio Games. In the eighth finals she again collided with Menezes, the defending champion.
After the Games in Brazil, Van Snick decided to switch to the minus 52 kg. In that heavier weight class, she won bronze in the Guangzhou Masters in 2018, three bronze medals in Grand Slams and six medals in Grand Prix competitions, including gold in 2018 in The Hague. Her last medal at a major championship was bronze at the 2020 European Championships in Prague.
