The British Judo Association, the National Governing Body for British Judo, has today (16th December) announced the Olympic and Paralympic athletes selected for its World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) for 2019 – 2020.

Funded by the National Lottery through UK Sport, WCPP selection is based upon a set of criteria including potential to medal at future Olympic and Paralympic Games, results in the past year, and expected professional behaviours of an Elite athlete.

Chelsie Giles (-52kg) has been promoted from Podium Potential to the Podium Programme following her bronze medal at the European Games and her 7th placed finish at the World Championships.

Four athletes will be supported through the Olympic and Paralympic Podium programmes.  There will also be 23 Olympic and Paralympic athletes on the respective Podium Potential programmes. All Podium and Podium Potential athletics receive an Athlete Performance Award (APA) to support their Judo programme.

In addition to this, ten athletes are being offered support as Programme athletes which is funded directly by British Judo.

Three athletes will also receive support from the WCPP through the WRL 16 Programme. Following a review after the World Judo Championships, five athletes met the criteria and three athletes have taken up a place on the WRL 16 Programme.

All athletes on the WCPP receive a Coach led Individual Athlete Plan (IAP) with agreed training and competition goals. They will also have access to BOA Medical insurance and are supported by a comprehensive Sports Science and Sports Medicine programme and services.

Athletes exiting off the WCPP will receive transitional APA support as well as identified programme support for up to four months, which is based on the number of years they have been a member of the British Judo World Class Performance Programme.

Nigel Donohue, British Judo Performance Director, said:

“It has been another fantastic year across our Olympic, Paralympic and EDS Programmes.” 

“There have been a number of standout performances including Sally Conway’s World Championship bronze medal, Alice Schlesinger’s silver and Chelsie Giles taking bronze at the European Games. In the EDS Programme Kelly Petersen-Pollard became world number 1 after being crowned European Junior Champion and Lachlan Moorhead and Yasmin Javadian both took bronze medals at those Championships. Yasmin also claimed bronze at the European U23 Championships too. Our Paralympic Programme continues to produce medals with Chris Skelley, Elliot Stewart and Jack Hodgson all winning bronze medals at the IBSA European Championships. Chris also became world number 1 earlier this year which is a fantastic achievement.”

“This is an exciting and talented group of athletes to be working with. I’d like to thank their clubs and the Home Nation Programmes for their continued support and for helping to bring through these judoka.

“It’s an exciting time in this cycle. There are 6 months left in qualification with a number of Olympic and Paralympic athletes in direct qualification positions with a focus on achieving top 8 qualification position”

“The British Judo Centre of Excellence recently celebrated its 6^th birthday, and the consistency we are building now across both the Olympic and Paralympic Programmes at Junior and Senior level leading into Tokyo is testament to the GB performance system which bodes well for the Tokyo Games and beyond.”

Athletes on British Judo WCPP 2019 – 2020

PODIUM

Olympic

Athlete	Club	Home Coach
Chelsie Giles	Coventry Judo Club	Simon Moss
Nekoda Smythe-Davis	Ealing Judo Club	Jo Crowley

Paralympic

Athlete	Club	Home Coach
Christopher Skelley	Haltemprice Judo Club	Jeff Brady
Elliot Stewart	Stewart Judo Academy	Dennis Stewart

PODIUM POTENTIAL

Olympic

Athlete	Home Club	Home Coach
Eric Ham	Glossop Judo Club	Geoff Ham
Gemma Howell	Wolverhampton Judo Club	Bill Kelly
Yasmin Javadian	Coventry Judo Club	Simon Moss
Harry Lovell-Hewitt	Stroud Judo Club	Richard Neale
Amy Livesey	S.K.K Judo Club	Peter Blood
Bekky Livesey	S.K.K Judo Club	Peter Blood
Shelley Ludford	Judo Club Osaka	Adrian Dove
Lachlan Moorhead	Sheffield Judo Club	Matt Moorhead / Gordon Lambert
Stuart McWatt	Garioch Judo Club	Stuart McWatt Snr
Lele Nairne	Bradley Stoke Judo Club	Pete Douglas
Kelly Petersen-Pollard	Hardy Spicer 83	Fitzroy Davies
Jamal Petgrave	Westcroft Judo Club	Andy Ede
Lubjana Piovesana	Bishop Challoner RC School JC	Phil Hudson
Dan Powell	N/A	N/A
Emma Reid	Redbridge Judo Club	Steve Sandy
Lucy Renshall	S.K.K Judo Club	Peter Blood
Max Stewart	Stewart Judo Academy	Dennis Stewart
Scott Thompson	Danderhall Judo Club/Destination Judo	Dave Reilly/Colin Woods
Acelya Toprak	Metro Judo Club	Mick Murphy
Jemima Yeats-Brown	Ryecroft Judo Club	Ian Oliver

Paralympic

Athlete	Home Club	Home Coach
Jack Hodgson	Grimsby Judo Club	Terry Alltoft
Evan Molloy	Devizes Judo Club	N/A
Daniel Powell	N/A	N/A

Programme

Athlete	Home Club	Home Coach
Connah Anders	Worcester Judo Club 83	N/A
Oliver Barratt	Dragons Judo Academy	Stephen Abberley
Sian Bobrowska	Hardy Spicer 83	Fitzroy Davies
Emily Cooper	SKK Judo Club	Peter Blood
Michael Fryer	Rush Judo Club	Laurie Rush
Mollie Game	Camberley Judo Club	Luke Preston
Wesley Greenidge	Enfield Judo Club	George Hyslop
Natalie Greenhough	Kin Ryu Judo Club	Lisa Harrison
Max Gregory	Drake Judo Club	Gary Gregory
Amy Platten	Redbridge Judo Club	Guy Platten

WRL 16

Athlete	Home Club	Home Coach
Sarah Adlington	Edinburgh Judo Club	Billy Cusack
Natalie Powell	Irfon Judo Club	Darren Warner
Alice Schlesinger	N/A	Pavel Musin