Creator credit recorded on the linked source page: Olga Komutera · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gamila Kanew
A Berlin-born former footballer who says she largely taught herself jiu-jitsu, holds a black belt under Alain Pozo and won world medals for Germany.
Biography
Sources for this profile
German Wikipedia, article on Gamila Kanew, last edited 28 September 2026.(opens in a new tab)
She was born in Berlin in 1995.
Where in the source: Infobox and opening sentence — birth year and birthplace
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The article describes her as a German combat-sports athlete in BJJ and grappling, and lists Germany as her nation.
Where in the source: Opening sentence of the article — «deutsche Kampfsportlerin»
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She holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Professor Alain Pozo.
Where in the source: Section Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, first paragraph, last sentence — «schwarzen Gürtel»
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The infobox lists her as a first-degree black belt in BJJ.
Where in the source: Infobox, Karriere row — «1. Grad»
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She has competed for the ZR Team Association since 2020, after earlier representing Team Globetrotters and then Ralph Gracie Berkeley during her stay in the United States.
Where in the source: Section Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, second paragraph — sentences on Team Globetrotters, Ralph Gracie Berkeley and ZR Team Association since 2020
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As a youth she played football, starting at FFV NB, then at Leipziger FC and Lokomotive Leipzig, and later for 1. FC Neubrandenburg 04 in the Regionalliga.
Where in the source: Section Leben, first paragraph — youth and club football career
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She began jiu-jitsu training in November 2015, won smaller and larger tournaments in Germany within a year, and competed abroad for the first time at the 2017 IBJJF London Winter Open, where she took gold.
Where in the source: Section Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, first paragraph — start in November 2015 and the 2017 London Winter Open
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She studied at the University of Greifswald from 2015 to 2021 and, during part of 2018 to 2019, at the University of California, Berkeley.
Where in the source: Section Leben, second paragraph — Greifswald years and the Berkeley period
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In 2018 she won three golds at the JJWL World Championship in Azusa.
Where in the source: Section Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, first paragraph — 2018 JJWL World Championship in Azusa
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Her colour-belt results listed in the article include a bronze at the 2018 IBJJF European Championship as white belt, bronze at the 2018 IBJJF No-Gi Worlds as blue belt, silver at the 2019 Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship and gold at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in Moscow (blue belt), silver at the 2020 Grand Slam London, and gold at the 2021 AJP European Continentals as purple belt.
Where in the source: Table Farbgurterfolge (colour-belt results), rows 2018 to 2021; columns Jahr, Gürtelklasse, Platzierung
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In 2022 as a brown belt she won gold at the IBJJF European Championship No-Gi, bronze at the IBJJF European Championship Gi and bronze at the IBJJF No-Gi Worlds.
Where in the source: Table Farbgurterfolge, the three IBJJF rows for 2022 with Gürtelklasse brown
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In black belt competition the article lists IBJJF European Championship medals in the middleweight class: No-Gi bronze in 2023 and 2024, and Gi gold in 2025.
Where in the source: Table Schwarzgurterfolge, rows European Championships 2023, 2024 and 2025
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In 2025 the article also lists bronze medals for her in both the middleweight and open class at the IBJJF Campeonato Brasileiro (Gi) and at the IBJJF Pan-American Championship (No-Gi), all at black belt.
Where in the source: Table Schwarzgurterfolge, rows Campeonato Brasileiro and Pan-American Championships, 2025
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In 2021 she briefly served as a newaza squad athlete for the German Ju-Jutsu Association, and she is a state squad trainer for grappling and jiu-jitsu in the GAMMAF federation of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, founded in 2021.
Where in the source: Section Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, first paragraph (newaza squad, 2021) and third paragraph (GAMMAF state federation)
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She is chair of the board and head trainer of the club Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ZR Team Greifswald e.V., which she co-founded.
Where in the source: Section Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, third paragraph — sentence on club chair and head trainer
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The city of Greifswald gave her its badge of honour for sporting commitment on 14 November 2019, and in January 2022 she signed the city's book of honour.
Where in the source: Section Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, fourth paragraph — «Ehrennadel» and the city book of honour entry
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German Wikipedia says she joined the grappling national squad of the German Wrestling Federation in October 2021, that this allowed her first participation at the UWW Grappling World Championship in Belgrade (28 to 31 October 2021), that Germany had never sent a team to that championship before, and that she won two medals there, one bronze and one silver.
Where in the source: Section UWW Grappling, first paragraph — «noch nie eine Mannschaft»
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At the 2022 UWW Grappling World Championship in Pontevedra she won silver in both Gi and No-Gi, and attended as national coach for the men and women; the German women's team placed first in the No-Gi team ranking and third in Gi.
Where in the source: Section UWW Grappling, paragraph on the 2022 championship in Pontevedra — «Bundestrainerin»
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She won five golds and the open weight classes at the 2021 German grappling championships in Limburg, and on 30 April 2022 took two golds at the German ADCC championships, in the professional division and the open class.
Where in the source: Section Grappling, first paragraph — «5-fach Gold»
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On 1 July 2023 she won a match at the Honor Submission Challenge in Cagliari, where the article says women had not competed before, and in 2024 she took bronze after five fights at the ADCC European, African and Middle East Trials in Zagreb.
Where in the source: Section Grappling, second and third paragraphs — «noch nie Frauen»
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The article lists titles for her at the Ocean Pro championship in both the lightweight (under 65 kg) and heavyweight (over 65 kg) divisions, and says that in 2025 she finished second in the Ocean final in Cagliari, losing the lightweight final on a decision to Sarah Galvão.
Where in the source: Section Grappling, paragraphs on the Ocean Pro championship — Lightweight and Heavyweight divisions
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In September 2025 she competed at Polaris Pro Grappling, described in the article as the first German woman to do so, and lost to Injana Goodman.
Where in the source: Section Grappling, paragraph on Polaris Pro Grappling — «erste deutsche Frau»
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At the UWW Grappling World Championship in Warsaw in August 2023 she won bronze in Gi at 64 kg, and on 23 October 2023 she won the Gi 64 kg gold at the World Combat Games in Riyadh, described as Germany's first gold of any discipline at those games.
Where in the source: Section UWW Grappling, paragraphs on Warsaw 2023 and the World Combat Games — «erste Gold-Medaille»
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At the UWW Grappling European Championships in Bucharest on 11 to 12 March 2023 she won No-Gi bronze, travelling as national coach; the article says no German team had attended that event before.
Where in the source: Section UWW Grappling, Bucharest paragraph — «noch nie ein deutsches Team»
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Jiu Jitsu Legacy, interview with Gamila Kanew ahead of the 13th Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship (page updated 15 February 2022).(opens in a new tab)
In an interview ahead of the 13th Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship (dated 12 November 2021 in German Wikipedia's reference list) she said she lived in Germany in a small town close to the Baltic Sea, where she had her own academy and had studied to become a teacher.
Where in the source: Answer to the introduction question — «Baltic Sea»
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She said that during her semester abroad in Berkeley she trained at Ralph Gracie Berkeley under Professor Eduardo Fraga, who helped her grow as an athlete, and that she later trained under Professor Alain Pozo in ZR Team, whom she called her jiu-jitsu father figure.
Where in the source: Answer on influences — «Prof. Eduardo Fraga»; «Jiu Jitsu dad»
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She said her first Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship was in 2019, where she won silver, and that at the previous edition, held earlier in the year of the interview (12 November 2021 per German Wikipedia's reference list), she missed the podium after losing the first fight on an advantage.
Where in the source: Answers on Abu Dhabi — «silver medal»; «advantage loss»
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She said that she largely taught herself, travelled to most tournaments alone, trained over thirty hours a week without a coach, and struggled to fund competing and find sponsors, and that competing was how she got feedback on her game plan.
Where in the source: Answers on influence and advice — «without a coach»
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Nordkurier, profile of Gamila Kanew by Peter Krüger, published 13 January 2019, updated 6 January 2022.(opens in a new tab)
Nordkurier presented her in January 2019 as a former 1. FC Neubrandenburg 04 footballer who found BJJ while looking for a sport at the University of Greifswald, and said she quickly took to it and collected early wins and medals.
Where in the source: Article by Peter Krüger, 13 January 2019, opening paragraphs — «ehemalige Fußballerin»
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Nordkurier reported that her trainer in the United States noticed her talent after a month and her first competitions there, supported her, and let her live in his caravan free of charge; the paper credited her with 16 medals from that stay, two of them world titles.
Where in the source: Section «Im Wohnwagen des Trainers gelebt», second paragraph — «16 Medaillen»
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The Cauliflower Gami, Gamila Kanew's own website, home page (footer dated 2023).(opens in a new tab)
On her own website she describes herself as a professional BJJ athlete and coach, says she started BJJ in November 2015 after finishing school, and says the sport became the base from which she makes her living.
Where in the source: Home page, introductory text — «athlete and coach»
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The Cauliflower Gami, Gamila Kanew's own website, National Team page (footer dated 2023).(opens in a new tab)
Her own National Team page lists, under -64 kg: Gi bronze and No-Gi silver at the 2021 UWW World Championships, No-Gi silver and Gi silver in 2022, and in 2023 World Combat Games gold in Gi, UWW Worlds bronze in Gi and UWW European Championships bronze in No-Gi.
Where in the source: National Team page, 2021, 2022 and 2023 blocks, lines for Gamila Kanew — «Silver in NoGi»
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The Cauliflower Gami, Gamila Kanew's own website, Coaching experiences page (footer dated 2023).(opens in a new tab)
Her coaching page lists her as head coach of ZR Team Germany since November 2019, head coach of the UWW German national grappling team since June 2022, and GAMMAF MV state squad grappling coach since April 2021, and lists a BJJ black belt with the name Alain Pozo in brackets among her grappling qualifications.
Where in the source: Coaching experiences — first three lines of Grappling coaching; Grappling Qualifications — «Alain Pozo»
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The same page lists earlier teaching posts, among them grappling and self-defence instructor for university sport at the University of Greifswald (April 2017 to January 2022), BJJ instructor at PSV Neubrandenburg (November 2019 to March 2020), and BJJ coach at UFC Gym St. Pauli in Hamburg (November 2022 to January 2023).
Where in the source: Coaching experiences, Grappling coaching list — lines for Hochschulsport Universität Greifswald, PSV NEUBRANDENBURG and UFC Gym St. Pauli
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The Cauliflower Gami, Gamila Kanew's own website, State Team page (footer dated 2023).(opens in a new tab)
Her State Team page says she is part of the GAMMAF MV team and acts as grappling instructor for the MMA and grappling athletes of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania squad.
Where in the source: State Team page — «grappling instructor»
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Lineage
No teaching connections are shown on this page.
Open lineage