Update on Ivo Dos Santos Olympic Judo Campaign

Posted on | January 7, 2012 | No Comments

EDITOR’S NOTE: A while back on the fightradio.info weekly combat sports show we interviewed Judo Player Ivo Dos Santos. Here’s an update from our former guest on his progress in working toward securing a spot to compete in the sport at the 2012 Olympic games.

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Well, 2011 was a massive year and I have been able to get my Olympic Qualifying position to 15th. I managed to achieve four top 10 results at World Cup and Grand Prix level as well as defending my title at the Oceania Championships. I was also able to contest my first ever World Cup Final at the Samoa World Cup in November, unfortunately I was unable to win the title but was able to beat various top level competitors on my way to the final.

If you click the following link you will see the Olympic Selection Table, noting that the top 22 per weight qualify, I am in a very strong position being 15th.
http://217.79.182.227/www.judo-world.net/_ranking/tta_qualification.php?cat=-66+kg&nation_field=

I have been invited by the International Judo Federation to compete in the ‘World Masters’ event.

An elite competition where only the top 16 athletes per category are entered in a direct elimination battle, competing for their share of the US$200,000 prize pool.

Unfortunately with no funding support, I am unable to self fund my trip to Almaty, Kazakhstan and will therefore be unable to take my place in this field.

With my ranking quite safe I have chosen to bypass the February European circuit (5 competitions in 1 month) to put in an extra hard training block leading up to Japan in March.

In March I will head to Osaka, Japan for 3 weeks of training and competition with a handful of my Australian team mates who are in the best position for Olympic Qualification.
The trip will have us spending a few days at a time with Japan’s elite University Teams, training and competing with them for up to 8 hours per day.

This trip is to have us in the best possible form for the Oceania Continental Championships, held in Cairns, April 27-29. This is the final Olympic Selection event and for me personally, my chance to win my 4th consecutive Oceania Title.

This will also mean I have realized my lifelong ambition of competing at the Olympic Games.

As the Olympics draw closer and my dream comes closer to reality I need the help of my supporters and sponsors more than ever. Training full time in a sport where all of your rivals are paid professionals is very difficult, especially when you have to work a 40 hr week to try and make ends meet.

If you are able to and interested please get in contact and help be a part of my lifelong ambition.

Please continue to follow my day to day progress through my blog:

http://www.ivojudo.com/

Or my facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/Ivojudo

Yours in Judo,

Ivo Dos Santos