Former European Cup and European Open Medallist Stuart McWatt has announced his retirement from the sport.

After rising through the ranks at Pre-Cadet and Cadet levels while training at Garioch Judo in Scotland, a club his father runs as Head Coach, Stuart regularly travelled from Aberdeen to Edinburgh to train with former Junior coach at JudoScotland Matt Purssey. In 2015, British Judo Association Performance Director Nigel Donohue approached Stuart to move to England and train at the National Training Centre full-time.

After a ten-year career as a full-time Judoka, Stuart has decided now is a good time to move on from the sport following a string of injuries that had affected him both physically and mentally.

“I think the main thing was looking after my body more, I’ve had a lot of injuries over my career, especially over the last ten years training full-time, so after my last injury I started looking at life after Judo,” said Stuart.

“In the future when I have a family, I want to be able to do things with them and still be active. I don’t really want to go through any more rehab process.

“That was the main decision of stepping away, I don’t know if my body would survive through another four-year cycle. So, I’m just wanting to take care of my body for the future.”

Stuart has travelled globally competing however there are two events he was successful in that he has particularly fond memories of. Shortly after coming back from a second ACL injury as a Junior in 2017, he competed in the European Championships Team Event where he played a vital role in securing a bronze medal. Key wins by McWatt against Russia in the last eight, and Italy in the bronze medal contest secured an impressive and successful return from injury.

Speaking on the injury troubles he’s faced, Stuart said, “Since I’ve been training full-time, I’ve had five surgeries, so I’ve spent a lot of time off the mat, and it just takes its toll mentally and physically.”

“I want to thank our Physio team from over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time with them and sometimes more time with them than the coaches. Jacob, the current Physio who has been with us for the last 5/6 years, he’s played a massive part in helping me recover.”

Reflecting on his career, Stuart commented: “I want to thank anyone that’s been a part of my journey, going back to my dad and the guys at the club I grew up in, to all the coaches such as Matt Purssey, Dennis Stuart and Colin Oates for helping me get to that level and have the chance to train full-time, to try and qualify for the Olympic Games.

“I also need to thank Nigel and the rest of the team for the support they’ve given me on and off the mat during my time with them.”

McWatt insists that he will remain a part of the Judo community and has plans to coach at his club back home in Scotland.

British Judo Performance Director, Nigel Donohue said: “We are of course disappointed that Stuart has made the decision to retire and understand the reasons for making such a difficult decision at this stage of his career. Over the last several years, Stuart has been and will continue to be, a fantastic asset to British Judo. During his time on the WCP, Stuart has proven to be a leader both on and off the mat and has always been someone who I could personally check-in with to get a ‘feel’ across the programme and any feedback he has provided, as always proved invaluable. He is a reliable, sensible and trustworthy young man who I have high regard for.

“On the mat, I am certain that he would have qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games, had he not got seriously injured in his 2021 ISR Grand Slam Bronze medal match. Stuart was making great progress towards the Games, but the injury sustained there ended his Games ambitions, which also carried over into the Paris cycle. Stuart has shown incredible resilience and perseverance in his Judo career and I have no doubt, that these learnings, will stand him in good stead for his future.

“We do know that Stuart has real ambitions to Coach, and we believe that Stuart will be a fantastic asset to British Judo as we continue to work with him to consider how we best support his Coach Development through our Coaching Programmes and our ambitions with UK Sport around our Apprentice Coach programme.”

We wish Stuart the best of luck for his future!

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