“I never felt unsafe,” said the 29-year-old judoka in her Italian home about the past period. Polling also wanted to be at home, because she can train well with her boyfriend there.
At the Dutch judo federation they initially thought that was not such a good idea. Because while everyone wanted to flee Northern Italy, Polling went there. “They first thought, ‘why did she leave?’ That turned to: “Kim is doing the best for everyone at the moment”. “
After all, all top sports locations in the Netherlands were closed, training was virtually impossible. Polling, on the other hand, could just roll out the judo at home.
Vaccine
The judoka does not think that changes will come soon, even though Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced relaxations of the corona measures last week. Judge is allowed again. As far as Polling is concerned, that could have been much earlier.
“I’m really just talking about that small group of top athletes in the Netherlands. At Papendal, a safe environment, with all protocols. That should be possible, right?”
Polling will remain dependent on training with her boyfriend for the time being. It does ensure that she can shift her attention to other things. “I can’t imagine that we are going to do tournaments before there is a vaccine. That is very aimless, so I am now mainly focusing on learning Italian.”
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