Sarah Clark (judoka)

Sarah Clark
Clark in 2014
Personal information
NationalityBritish (Scottish)
Born (1978-01-03) 3 January 1978 (age 46)
Durham, England
OccupationJudoka
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportJudo
Weight class–57 kg, –63 kg
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games13th (2004)
World Champ.R32 (2005, 2007, 2009,
R32( 2010, 2011)
European Champ.Gold (2006)
Commonwealth GamesGold (2014)
Medal record
Women's judo
Representing  Great Britain
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2006 Tampere –63 kg
Silver medal – second place 2009 Tbilisi –57 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Bucharest –63 kg
Representing  Scotland
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow –63 kg
Profile at external databases
IJF106
JudoInside.com8879
Updated on 16 November 2022

Sarah Clark (born 3 January 1978) is a British judoka, who has competed at three Olympic Games.[1]

Judo career

Clark got her Shodan black belt at the young age of 15.[citation needed] Clark came to prominence when winning the Scottish Championships in 1997. In 2000 and 2001 she won back to back half-middleweight British titles at the British Judo Championships.[2]

In 2004, she was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece, she competed in the half-middleweight (-63 kg) category and reached the last 16, where she was beaten by the eventual silver medalist, Claudia Heill. She then lost to Ronda Rousey in the first round of the repechage.[3] Also during 2004 she won a bronze medal at the 2004 European Judo Championships, in Bucharest.[1]

Two more British titles were secured in 2005 and 2006[4] and she achieved her best result to date, which was a European gold medal at the 2006 European Judo Championships, in Tampere.[1]

In 2008, she went to her second Olympic Games, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, she again lost to Heill, this time in the first round[5] of the women's 63 kg. The following year in 2009, a silver medal at the 2009 European Judo Championships took her tally to a European medal of every colour. From 2008 to 2012 she secured three more British titles, bringing her total to seven.[4]

She suffered a broken arm in 2009, which required surgery. During the recovery process she intensely trained the left-handed uchimata.[citation needed]

Clark ended her Olympic career on a high note by gaining selection for her home Olympic Games in London. Dropping down a weightclass, she competed in the women's 57 kg category, where she lost in the first round to Automne Pavia.[6][7][3]

In 2014, she won the gold medal in the 63kg for Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sarah Clark profile". Judo Inside. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  2. ^ "British Championships - Event results". Judo Inside. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sarah Clark". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  4. ^ a b "British Judo Championship Results 2003 to present". British Judo. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Beijing 2008 Women's Half-Middleweight (-63 kg) Judo". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  6. ^ "London 2012 - Women's Lightweight (-57 kg) Judo". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  7. ^ "London 2012: Sarah Clark". London 2012. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.