Well the World Cup in Samoa is over and to say that I am disappointed in my 5th place is an understatement. I'm pretty confident in saying that I have saved the worst performance of my career for this competition. I had a good draw and physically a good preparation.But when you step out on the mat against an unknown and very beatable USA contender...that counted for nothing. The US girl made a soft attack and I picked her up in a counter (ura nage) to take her back. It was quote spectacular...only problem is I landed first and the ippon went to her....game over. I had very little time to grasp the consequences of this mistake when I was back in the repercharge against fellow Aussie Sarah Collins. I scored with a Yuko and then used one of my favourite turnovers to secure a hold for ippon. Then it was a long drawn out wait to the finals to fight for the bronze against my no.1 US rival Ransom. It's hard to comprehend why...but this fight finished the same way as my first...I picked her up but fell to my back first...Ippon to her!
Never before has this happened to me and to do it twice in a comp is something I will never, never forget. In fact I doubt you will again find me performing that technique! It was working well in training but judo is an unforgiving sport...one mistake like this and it's over. That's the excitement of judo I suppose and it's not always the best athlete that comes out the winner.
The feeling of losing in this way is indescribable and thanks to the support of my room buddy Janelle ,I dealt with it and got on with the three day training camp after. I was hopeful of seeking some revenge against both US girls but neither participated. They were more content to sit on the side of the mat and film me! ...pretty cheeky!
The majority of the Aussies participated at the training camp where some good technical demonstrations were given by former Olympic silver medallist Nic Gill from Canada. The heat at the camp was just bearable and the pool at the Aussie team hotel got a real workout!
We arrived back Thursday but for me there is no time to rest. Janelle, Ben, coach JB and I leave for another World Cup in Korea next Sunday, followed by a Grand Prix in Tokyo. The trick now is to forget the disaster of Samoa and move on with confidence to these next two events. There is a long way to go between now and Olympic Selection and little to be gained from dwelling on this one event. As I've seen...anything can happen in Judo
Never before has this happened to me and to do it twice in a comp is something I will never, never forget. In fact I doubt you will again find me performing that technique! It was working well in training but judo is an unforgiving sport...one mistake like this and it's over. That's the excitement of judo I suppose and it's not always the best athlete that comes out the winner.
The feeling of losing in this way is indescribable and thanks to the support of my room buddy Janelle ,I dealt with it and got on with the three day training camp after. I was hopeful of seeking some revenge against both US girls but neither participated. They were more content to sit on the side of the mat and film me! ...pretty cheeky!
The majority of the Aussies participated at the training camp where some good technical demonstrations were given by former Olympic silver medallist Nic Gill from Canada. The heat at the camp was just bearable and the pool at the Aussie team hotel got a real workout!
We arrived back Thursday but for me there is no time to rest. Janelle, Ben, coach JB and I leave for another World Cup in Korea next Sunday, followed by a Grand Prix in Tokyo. The trick now is to forget the disaster of Samoa and move on with confidence to these next two events. There is a long way to go between now and Olympic Selection and little to be gained from dwelling on this one event. As I've seen...anything can happen in Judo
