Sergiu Toma won the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics. He went through all the tedious and bureaucratic anti-doping procedures post his victory to clinch his medal in the 81kg judo class. He then fulfilled all his media duties.
And then, when he was done with it all, he went and celebrated in the now apparently traditional fashion of many winning Olympians: by dining out on some fast food.
“Before the fights, my dinner was just one or two Kiwi [fruits] and bananas,” Toma said at the UAE Wrestling & Judo Federation headquarters in Abu Dhabi on Monday as he recalled his actions after his triumph on August 9.
“Now after I won the medal and got back to the village I could drink some coke and have some nice food, a McDonald’s.”
So Toma joined the likes of the US gymnast Simone Biles, the Fiji rugby sevens gold medallists and the New Zealand women’s rugby sevens side, as well as, of course, Usain Bolt who chomped down his favourite nuggets after winning his ninth Olympic gold medal.
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Toma was making his first public appearance in the UAE on Monday after bringing home the country’s second ever Olympic medal. And this is not the last medal he plans on bringing home.
Asked where he saw himself in four year’s time, the response was unequivocal: “On the pedestal, in Tokyo 2020.”
Having come so close to getting into the final in Rio — he narrowly lost to the eventual gold medallist, Russian Khasan Khalmurzaev — Toma is confident he can go better at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Yes of course I am confident because if in the past the Olympic medal was a big, big dream, now that it is here, there is more confidence in my abilities and it looks a possibility now to win gold.”
Toma said there was a little regret that he did not get into the final, having only lost to Khasan Khalmurzaev in a “golden score” takedown in the semi-finals.
But he did not let that seep into his preparations for the bronze medal fight against Italy’s Matteo Marconcini.
“The regret after the fight for the final was there a little bit of course,” he said. “I was there for the gold, that was the main goal for us.
“But I’m very glad that it didn’t influence or affect my motivation to win the bronze.
“So there is some regret but it’s more for a good future, it motivates me to work harder for achieving the gold.”
That kind of single-minded focus has been evident in his reaction to the medal. The extensive nature of his preparations over the last three years — since he started representing the UAE after previously representing Moldova, the country of his birth — with the federation meant that a medal was very much the expectation.
In that sense, the medal has not been the overwhelming, life-changing event it often is for Olympians.
“When I won the medal, I was really prepared for it, I had done a lot to get it. I understood what I had done when I got the medal.
“Before when I won the bronze at the World Championships [in Paris in 2011], it was a little unexpected then and when I slept that night, I got up just to check that it wasn’t a dream that I had won a medal. This time it wasn’t like that. I knew I had won and I was ready for it in my mind, even if it was gold.”
The first person he spoke to after the win is one of the most important in his story, Naser Al Tamimi, the general secretary of the UAE Wrestling, Judo and Kick Boxing Federation.
Al Tamimi feels this medal could be the start of big things for the local judo scene.
“I think it will make a big difference,” he said. “Already the impact is there since he won the medal. People are talking about his medal, about judo more.
“So this medal will be helping and promoting judo among the younger generation. It’s a big achievement, an Olympic medal.
“The guys already involved in judo, for them it will be a big motivation. And I’m sure this will increase by 30-40 per cent the participation in judo around the UAE.”
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