Karina Bryant

Early life Born in Kingston-upon-Thames, London, Bryant learnt judo as a child. At the age of ten she joined the Camberley club and earned her black belt less than six years later. She competed for Kingston in the London Youth Games.

Career She entered the European Junior Championships in 1995, competing in the over 72 kg class, she finished with a silver medal. The following year another European silver medal followed, but she went one place better and won the World Junior Championships. She won a further Junior World title in 1998, and won the European title for the first time in that same year. She reached the round of 16, but was eliminated from the competition. She competed at the 2012 European Championships and qualified out of the pool stage, but was beaten by Russian Elena Ivashchenko. She won the following repechage round to claim the bronze medal at the tournament, her seventh medal at the European stage.

On 26 June 2012, Bryant was confirmed a competitor with the rest of the British judoka squad. She was selected to compete in the over 78 kg section, and the appearance would mark it as her fourth Olympic Games. On 3 August, she started her campaign at the Games; her first match was a victory over Algeria's competitor Sonia Asselah. In her round of 16, she edged past third-seeded Slovenian Lucija Polavder, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist. In the quarter-final she beat Kazakhstan's Gulzhan Issanova to set up a semi-final match against Japan's Mika Sugimoto. However, she lost that bout, sending her into a play-off for the bronze medal against Iryna Kindzerska from Ukraine.

After initially going down by a waza-ari, she responded with one of her own. Her opponent scored a yuko on her, but Bryant took another waza-ari, which combined with the first gave her an ippon, the victory in the bout and the bronze medal. Following her victory, Bryant stated that she had not yet ruled out competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, which would be her fifth Olympic Games. She had three surgeries after the London Olympics but aggravated an old injury when she tried to return to training.

Achievements Year Tournament Place Weight class 2012 Olympic Games 3rd Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2007 World Championships 5th Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2006 European Championships 7th Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2005 World Championships 2nd Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2nd Open classEuropean Championships 1st Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2004 European Championships 2 Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2003 World Championships 3rd Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2nd Open classEuropean Championships 1st Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2002 European Championships 7th Open class 2001 World Championships 5th Heavyweight (+78 kg) 2nd Open classEuropean Championships 3rd Open class 2000 European Championships 1st Heavyweight (+78 kg) 1999 World Championships 3rd Heavyweight (+78 kg)European Championships 5th Heavyweight (+78 kg) 1998 European Championships 1st Heavyweight (+78 kg)