The Original Judo Podcast

This week the show welcomes former British Champion Stuart Mcwatt to the show. We catch up around his return to the mat, injuries, being backstage at the Commonwealth Games and manning the British Judo Instagram account. Follow Stuarts return to the mat on his instagram @judostu

A brief ramble this week looking ahead to the judo at the end of the year and what’s coming up for the podcast.

Absolutely loved recording this episode with US triple Olympian and Rio Olympic silver medallist Travis Stevens. Travis had a stellar career, including, in 2012 Olympics, one of the most iconic fights in the sport. We talk through his career in judo, that match and going onto win Silver four years later, transition away from his competitive career, goals for JudoFanatics, as well as a brief discussion of the challenges facing US Judo at the moment.

Huge thanks to Travis for giving up his time to join the show. If you dont already follow him check out his Instagram page, as well as the JudoFanatics site.

This week we welcome Dutch National coach Matt Purssey to the show. After a storied career as an athlete Matt has coached at a performance level with JudoScotland, British Judo, and is now with the Dutch National Team. We talk through the high’s and low’s of his time as an athlete, his transition into coaching, and how this experience lead him to the coaching role in Netherlands.

This week we welcome Scotlands Commonwealth Bronze Medalist Malin Wilson to the podcast. Malin talks about the challenges of finding Judo in the Highlands of Scotland, her commonwealth games experience and hows she's ended up living and training in Madrid. Follow her journey towards Paris 2024 on Instagram @malw57

This week we welcome Paralympic Bronze medalist Ben Quilter to the pod. Ben is a double Paralympian and talks about his journey through Judo, winning world and european championships, in the run up to his bronze medal run at London 2012 Paralympics.

He talks about his journey through judo, early influences in his career, the challenges he faced in the weeks up to London 2012, and the experience of competing in front of home support.

This week we welcome back to the show GB's under 63kg European Champion and Double Olympian Gemma Howell.

We talk through her amazing journey since 2019 which includes covid, Tokyo Olympics, Sofia European Championships and Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Love this interview, Gemma is so open and great fun to chat to. Follow her journey toward Paris2024 on twitter @gemh7

Just me this week, talking through the good, the bad and the ugly of the worlds and other judo news from the last fortnight. I try not to rant.

Basically, we talk lightweight judo, some of the results, the effect of the rules (28% of fights ended in in a hansoku) and lastly the subscription service rolled out without warning by the IJF. Oh and did I say that Judo missed out on the next Commonwealth Games, but fortunately, Golf, which we can all agree doesnt have a big enough stage and profile, managed to get included.

Last minute worlds preview. Let me know what you think, let me know who you’ve got for the medals.