Yasmin Javadian is continuing to prove people wrong as she has recently completed her 2^nd year studying dentistry at the University of Birmingham. Yasmin passed with a 76% average, winning the Bradnock Award in Behavioural Science for academic excellence as the highest achiever in her year group for the behavioural science module.

She has achieved this in addition to being a full-time fighter training at the British Judo National Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre.

“Being able to represent British Judo on the IJF world tour, whilst studying dentistry, was something that not many people believed I could do. However, with British Judo’s belief and flexibility I’ve been able to make it work. The team here at British Judo have pushed me to be the best I can be both on and off the mat, with their support helping me grow into the athlete I have always aspired to be.”

Despite her success, Yasmin admits that balancing being a full-time fighter and student does take a lot of time-management, work ethic and determination to ‘get stuff done’. But balancing the student athlete lifestyle is something Yasmin has excelled in before as she claimed Junior European and U23 European bronze medals in 2019 having just started her degree.

“It was such an unreal experience; I was over the moon to finally claim that European medal after three 5^th places at the European Championships previously. It was such a big relief to finally bring home the medal.”

However, she does admit it did take a while to get into her new routine: “My first term at university was pretty hectic – catching at least four trains per day to make it to all my lectures and training sessions was definitely not a highlight. But I found that I settled into it a lot quicker than I thought I would. British Judo were brilliant in helping me organise my time whilst still helping me perform my best on the mat, and I have my two European Championship medals to show for it!”

Having made her senior debut earlier this year at the Tbilisi Grand Slam, Coventry Judo Club’s Yasmin has her eyes firmly set on next year’s Commonwealth Games which are to be staged in her home city at the Coventry Arena.

“Competing at this event has always been a goal of mine and it would be such a milestone in my career to make the team. Representing the country in front of a home crowd would give me such a buzz, especially with family and friends, who have followed my judo journey since the very beginning, being able to come along and support me.”

Yasmin has shown that she is willing to put in the hard work and as we enter the Paris 2024 cycle she has her eyes firmly set on making the Team GB squad.

“Winning a medal in Paris 2024 is my ultimate goal. Making the Olympic team and graduating as a dentist are pretty hefty targets in themselves, so I just focus on taking small steps every day to bring myself closer to reaching them. A lot of early starts and late nights are ahead of me, but I’m willing to put in the hard work, day in and day out.”

So, what advice does Yasmin have for anybody thinking of starting higher education and training full-time? “You’re never going to regret trying to make it work! It’s definitely do-able as long as you always show up ready to work hard, whether that’s on the judo mat, in the gym or at your desk in front of your textbooks.”