Portuguese judoka Telma Monteiro has reflected on a career spanning six Olympic cycles in an International Judo Federation JudoPod interview. For Monteiro, medals record only part of an athlete's journey. Sacrifice, setbacks and personal growth often shape a career in ways that cannot be seen on a podium.
Monteiro was known for her intensity and focus in competition, yet she describes herself away from the tatami as shy and reserved. Learning to separate those two sides helped her use emotion as motivation while retaining clear judgement under pressure.
Mental preparation became a central part of her work. Before psychological support was common in elite sport, she used detailed visualisation to imagine specific opponents, competition settings and the pressure of major finals. By the time she entered a contest, she had already rehearsed many of its possible moments.
She has also witnessed a change in the way athletes discuss mental health. Consulting a psychologist was once treated as a weakness in some sporting environments. Support is now more widely accepted, but younger athletes face another source of pressure through social media, constant comparison and the difficulty of escaping public reaction after a loss.
Changes to judo rules also forced Monteiro to adapt. When direct leg grabs were removed, some believed her style would no longer be effective. Instead of resisting the change, she rebuilt parts of her judo and continued to compete at the highest level.
Her Olympic career included long periods of disappointment. A first-round loss at London 2012 was a major setback, but she reached the podium at Rio 2016, twelve years after her Olympic debut. The bronze medal became one of the defining moments of her career.
Monteiro later missed qualification for a sixth Olympic Games. Visiting the Olympic Village in Paris as a spectator helped her accept that her competitive career had ended. She describes the emotion of that moment as gratitude rather than regret.
Her experience presents mental resilience not as the absence of emotion, but as the ability to respond to defeat, rule changes, changing identity and the end of competition with a new sense of direction.