One of Sweden’s most famous athletes of all time chooses to end his career. Tommy Macias (29) belonged to the elite judoka in his class U73kg and recently stepped up to U81kg. Macias took a silver medal at the World Championships last year in Budapest against Lasha Shavdatuashvili. Macias was in the top three of the World Ranking for several years. He won the European Games title in 2019 and claimed three European Championships bronze medals.
Macias won two Grand Slams and two Grand Prix events. In 2016 he took gold in Abu Dhabi’s Grand Slam, in 2019 in Ekaterinburg and the two Grand Prix victories were achieved in Antalya and Cancun in 2018. In total he won 13 World Cup medals, 12 in the IJF World Tour. He competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games and at World Championships since 2014. The first three editions with heavy opponents in his first bout but in 2021 he finally got grip on all of his opponents accept for the Georgian world champion Shavdatuashvili.
“Macias worked his way up through very hard work, patience and perseverance. His attitude and determined effort laid the foundation for the successes he has reaped at the European Championships, the World Cup and the world tour. He, together with the others in the national team squad, really managed to make unique results over time and in this way inspire many both in Sweden but also internationally. It has been a very exciting, intense and fun year and I am grateful for our time together in the national team” comments national team manager Robert Eriksson.
Tommy Macias comes from a real judo family and he started with judo already as a three-year-old in the mother club Saltsjö Judo Club, which laid the foundation for his judo career. He has been living and training in Denmark for a few years now. Macias was selected in the national team in 2014 and has since developed into one of the world’s best judokas.
Macias wrote history with his European title and the world championships final for the first time for a Swedish man and set Swedish judo on the map.
His sporting achievements on the competition mat have of course also helped to show judo to the Swedish audience and made more people open their eyes to the sport – a sport that has not previously had such great media visibility in Sweden. His sporting achievements, together with his great commitment and passion for judo, make him an important role model for many judokas, both on and off the mat.
He has competed in the new class U81kg on a few occasions during the spring, but now chooses to drop out of the national team and bet on the Olympics.
It is of course sad that Tommy now chooses to end his elite career as he certainly could have achieved good results for a few more years. “I am sure that the experiences he has with him from these years, will give him a good start on his future projects and I wish him and his family all the best in the future” says Robert Eriksson.