Hunger Games: Why Katz battles more than his opponents

Josh Katz had one last judo throw of the dice to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games when he arrived at athletic chaos in bustling Abidjan, the most populous city in Ivory Coast.

Already nursing an injured knee, the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athlete faced more frustration when a local judo representative wasn’t on hand to greet him and his brother/coach, Nathan at the airport. With no hotel transfer available, their taxi trip became a pseudo Contiki tour of the city referred to in travel guides as ‘the Paris of West Africa’ due to its vibrant energy and modern skyline above the Ébrié Lagoon.

Upon arriving at the hotel the receptionist had no record of their payment, and after forking out for a room the jetlagged Katz – currently ranked the world’s No.27 for the 60kg category – learned meals weren’t included.  

“Sometimes we get spoiled with transport, logistics and hotels running so smoothly but, on that occasion, it was hard,” he recalled. “There was also no gym or training venue; no bath or sauna to help weight loss.

“It was chaos. Besides being the most stressed I’d been before a competition it was also my last chance for Olympic qualification.”

When they ventured out for food and bottled water the brothers were unnerved to have a crowd following them as if they were Abidjan’s Pied Pipers. With the mob growing bigger and more excitable by the minute, the pair hastily retreated to the sanctuary of their hotel room.

“When I’m overseas for a competition, especially one with big stakes, I probably don’t have the most open mind of wanting to embrace the culture and people as much as I probably should,” Katz told NSWIS Media.

“I couldn’t have been more selfish about my ambition to qualify for the Olympics when I was in Ivory Coast. My focus was dealing with the stress of making weight and injury.

“Looking back, maybe I should’ve had the perspective of, ‘as much as I want to be good at judo, there’s bigger things in the world than my wanting to qualify for the Olympics’ . Maybe. But, in that moment, I was solely focussed on my goal.”

Katz – who qualified for Paris to became a two-time Olympian – has amazing tales from traipsing the earth’s far-flung corners. His world-weary passport contains stamps from (to name a few) Mongolia, where, during a rare sightseeing expedition (photo below) he dressed in traditional clothing, rode horses and even had an eagle land on his arm, Peru, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Hong Kong, Israel, Tonga, Samoa, France, England, Canada, Scotland, New Caledonia and Brazil.

While the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallist’s stories would make a seasoned backpacker green with envy, the logistical and physiological demands associated with long-haul travel do take their toll.

A report published before the 2022 FIFA World Cup examining jet lag’s impact on sporting success noted Major League Baseball away teams typically lose 54 percent of matches; the figure rises to 61 percent for teams crossing three time zones.

It also noted a similar disadvantage for visiting teams in the 2020 Super Rugby competition, which then spanned Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. Other research suggests travelling across more than five time zones increases an athlete’s risk of illness two-to-three-fold, citing immune suppression in stressful and crowded aircraft cabins.

For combat athletes pressurised aeroplane cabins, recycled stale air and jet lag compound the strain of weight-cutting. Sitting for over 20 hours in a cramped seat is not ideal, either. Disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms are other hazards because they impair recovery, cognition and immune defence. Even an unfamiliar hotel bed can disrupt REM and deep sleep, increase fatigue and delay neuromuscular recovery.

“You do preparation before the trip about the things that could possibly go wrong, and you prepare for them by working out the best way to travel,” Katz said. “During the 2021 pandemic I lost all ability to expect for things to go smoothly in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympics. We weren’t let onto planes, visas were cancelled, and there was hotel quarantine.

“In the end we braced to rock up to the airport expecting something horrendous to happen, meaning we’d be in bad shape by the time we reached the competition.”

Josh Katz and his brother/coach Nathan became the Pied Pipers of Abidjan when they ventured onto the city’s streets

“You’re constantly doing everything to ensure your preparation is perfect,” he said.  “But there’s things out of your control that distract you and make you worry about whether you’re going to compete.

While such problems could provide a ready-made excuse for a poor result, Katz observed that elite sport has a hard edge.

“Things put doubt into your mind: ‘have I eaten the right food?’  ‘I didn’t get enough sleep’ . . . whatever it might be,” he said. “Nevertheless, you need to go out and compete because sport is harsh. When you return from a major competition, nobody cares what your sleep or breakfast was like. They don’t care if the bus was late. All they want to know is how you performed.”

NSWIS High Performance Manager Andy Burns, a two-time world cup gold medallist for Great Britain’s judo team, described Katz’s lot as a cross between movies The Hunger Games and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

“Unless you are one of the world’s top judo athletes you are always competing to ensure you are in the top 22 to qualify for the Games and avoid horrible draws,” said Burns.

NSWIS Hight Performance Manager Andy Burns: ‘It’s brutal and really is the hunger games at times’.

“The international judo calendar is hectic, and Josh would likely be away from Australia for at least six months of the year. Unlike a European athlete who is only ever hours away from most competitions, he’s mainly on long haul flights.

“Josh must cut weight, meaning he could be sitting between passengers on a flight and watching them eat whilst starving himself. I was once luckily upgraded to business class on my way to compete and told, ‘Tonight, sir, we’ll be serving beef cheek pie’. It sounded delicious, but because I needed to make weight all I had was a glass of iced water. You’re often in a severe calorie deficit whilst travelling which adds to the stress.”

“When you take everything else into account, logistics, ground travel, managing issues and often on your own – I was often at competitions where the athletes had to attend the briefing and the draw the night before competition to ensure they were entered because we had no coach with us. It isn’t easy. It’s brutal and really is the hunger games at times.”

Katz – who considers himself blessed to lead his life and who takes nothing for granted – has spent the last few weeks competing in Abu Dhabi and training in Budapest. This Friday he’ll fight in Croatia.  His commitments will intensify over the next year as he attempts to qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.  It is taxing, but Katz relies upon what seems a simple method to deal with unwelcome trials and tribulations. 

“When I’m competing, my mindset is to be as focused as possible,” he said. “Block out any background noise and be fully present.

“I tell myself I’ve done everything I possibly could during my preparation. Whilst there’ve been times it hasn’t been perfect, and there’s things that could always be done better, I gain peace of mind from knowing I couldn’t have worked harder.

“Sometimes I’ll win, sometimes I’ll lose. However, that thought allows me to live with myself. Maybe not straight away, but eventually. There were times when I was younger and I’d finish competitions regretting how I’d prepared. But these days, whether I win gold or lose in the first round, I take comfort in knowing I did everything possible to give myself the best chance.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS