The ten United Kingdom judokas led by Team Manager/competitor Jason MOORE and Delegate Lee HOLLEY faced some challenges prior to their entry into the highest profile police sporting event, held every four years.
Funding ordinarily made available from PSUK was unavailable as a result of a 2023 overspend; instead, all United Kingdom Judokas opted to self-fund and take advantage of the generosity of their respective forces' sports associations.
The team members' preparation was limited to what they were able to achieve individually, this levelled against the some of the other sixteen national teams, who would have been afforded multiple training camps specifically designed to improve the chance of success. Nevertheless, the Police Sport UK team passed accreditation, and all made their respective weight categories.
- Bryony GRIFFITHS (West Midlands) – under 57kg
- Rachel HALL (West Mercia) – under 57kg
- Kate FLEMING (West Midlands) – under 70kg
- Gary COLE (Dyfed Powys) – under 60kg
- James LEWIS (Kent) – under 73kg
- Declan BYRNE (Devon and Cornwall) – under 73kg
- Jason MOORE (Police Scotland) – under 90kg
- Benjamin PEARCE (Avon and Sommerset) – under 90kg
- William LOVELL (Cambridgeshire) – under 100kg
- Gavin MCNEILL (Police Scotland) – over 100kg
What did not escape the team's attention were the handful of judokas sporting Olympic tattoos, National Olympic Squad uniform or the 200kg Olympian, Daniel NATEA of Romania.
Day one, 14th June 2024, saw the light and middle weights compete, Bryony GRIFFITHS, Rachel HALL, Gary COLE, James LEWIS, and Declan BRYNE. Lee HOLLEY and Jason MOORE shared the responsibility of mat side coaching the light weights, supported by Gavin MCNEILL.
Bryony and Rachel both had byes putting them into the second round. Unfortunately, both lost their next contests, losing to Georgiana COVACIU of Romania and Franziska KAISER of Austria respectively. Nevertheless, both steeled themselves for repechage contests. Rachel next fought Ines KHATIR of France losing by ippon, while Bryony fought Austrian Verena HIDEN also losing by ippon. Both were placed seventh.
Gary COLE, a previous medallist in 14th and 15th Championships, had a tough first fight losing to Nikolay YOVCHEV of Bulgaria. Gary sustained a rib injury which he carried into his second fight against Maximilian HEYDER of Germany. Gary's injury clearly hampered his performance losing this fight and having to withdraw from the ‘round robin' format selected to determine the winner.
James LEWIS and Declan BYRNE both got off to a good start in the under 73kg category winning their first-round fights, beating Bulgarian teammates Ivaylo POPOV and Ivan DRAGULEV respectively. James went on to win his second-round fight against Austrian Fabian HADJISKY. Declan had a hard fought second round fight against Kevin ABELTHAUSER of Germany, he was eventually thrown for ippon by the world ranked judoka. Despite clearly suffering from the heavy landing in the previous fight, Declan chose to continue and prepared himself for his first repechage fight against Austrian Andreas TRUDENBERGER. Declan won this contest and progressed to the repechage semi-final, where he met Hungarian Istvan CSILLAG. CSILLAG pulled off a huge foot-sweep throwing Declan for ippon.
James lost his third-round contest against Laris BORS of Romania, which dropped him into a repechage final fight for a bronze medal; here James met CSILLAG who had put Declan out of the competition. CSILLAG, clearly accomplished in ashi waza, used the same foot-sweep to throw James for wazari, which he followed up with a strangle that saw James with little option that to submit. Nevertheless, James was placed a very respectable fifth place.
Day two, 15th June 2024, was the turn of the heavier weight categories, including Benjamin PEARCE, Jason MOORE, Kate FLEMMING, William LOVELL, and Gavin MCNEILL. Lee HOLLEY was back mat side supported by Gary COLE and James Lewis when multiple United Kingdom Judoka were fighting. Benjamin PEARCE and Jason MOORE were first though both benefited from a first-round bye. Benjamin next met Icelandic Arni LUND who threw him for ippon. Jason, appearing in his possible record breaking sixth European Police Championships, faced Austrian Severine GRABMAIR, who threw Jason for two consecutive wazaris to win the contest. Unfortunately, both LUND and GRABMAIR lost their next contests effectively dropping Benjamin and Jason from the competition.
William LOVELL was drawn against Symeon GEORIADIS of Greece. William was thrown for ippon and fell victim to the compound knockout system ending his day earlier than he would have liked.
Kate FLEMMING'S first round fight was against Belgian Fiona DE WITTE. A stunning ippon throw saw her progress to second round, where she met Corinna BAYER of Germany. BAYER threw Kate for ippon landing her awkwardly on her shoulder. Kate's motivation to fight for a bronze medal in the repechage final saw her ignore her injured shoulder and face Slovakian Adela KONECNA. Kate was thrown for ippon in this contest gaining her a hard fought fifth place.
Finally, Gavin MCNEILL stepped onto the tatami to face German Jonas SCHREIBER who threw and pinned Gavin to win the contest. SCHREIBER then progressed, eventually winning gold, pulling Gavin into the repechage semifinal, where he met Evangelos KARAMAGKIOLIS of Greece. Gavin was thrown for a wazari but quickly responded with a massive harai-goshi, throwing KARAMAGKIOLIS for ippon. This win saw Gavin fight for a bronze medal against Austrian Christoph KRONBERGER. Unfortunately, KRONBERGER threw Gavin for ippon robbing him of a Bronze medal. The subsequent fifth place was something to be proud of, as was how the whole of the Police Sport UK team fought and conducted themselves at this notoriously difficult international competition.
The 17th USPE European Police Championships has been scheduled for 2028 and will be hosted by Germany. It is highly likely that some members within the current Police Sport UK team will continue to develop and return to the event in four years' time… it is less likely that they will beat Jason's twenty-one-year run!
Lee Holley
