Hello all. My name is Euan Burton and I compete in the -81kg category for Great Britain. Over the next year I will be keeping you up to date with the major events that the GB Senior Team are competing in and giving you a little bit of an insight into a judo players life. This issue it’s all going to be about the 2010 World Championships in Tokyo.

The time to leave for Japan comes but the tournament doesn’t begin for 2 weeks which makes the travel out a slightly strange experience. Usually most players are cutting the final bit of weight and travelling stony faced to an event but for this far flung World Championships it’s all very relaxed in the camp.

We meet at Heathrow having travelled from our training bases and 12 hours and not a huge amount of sleep later emerge from the sliding doors of Narita airport bleary eyed and are hit in the face with a wave of stifling humid heat. It’s obvious immediately that it won’t just be the judo that’s going to be sizzling here.

After a long trip across town in typical Tokyo traffic jams the men eventually arrive at the hotel. Everyone is warned by the coaches and senior players of the dangers of falling asleep during this first day, a move that can spell disaster for the rest of the trip. Players in the past who haven’t managed to adjust to the time zone in the first days have been seen like ghosts, wandering the corridors of hotels in the middle of the night unable to sleep and stumbling zombie like through sessions in the day, definitely not a fate we want for any of our World Championship team!

So the first couple of days are used soaking up the food, shops and culture of Tokyo , anything to keep out of bed during the day. Then on Sunday the team has a meeting to go over the first weeks training.

There will be a general overall structure in place and within that a degree of flexibility so each athlete can ensure their own personal needs are taken care of. I had already discussed with Billy (Cusack) that I would follow a very similar pattern to the one that I would use if I was preparing for a big event at home. I would only do randori three times in that first week with a day off from randori in between. This should ensure that I turn up to the event hungry to be on a judo mat rather than feeling sick of the sight of a dojo!

After the meeting we all head to Kokugakuin University to get training under way and try to blow out some of the cobwebs still lingering from the journey. Some of us do an aerobic power circuit, some do stretching and movement drills with others doing a little judo but regardless of what we do everyone notices the same thing – we feel shattered! It’s so important at these times to remind yourself that this isn’t a true reflection of your condition but rather your bodies’ response to being put under a massive stress that it simply isn’t used to. If you start to get anxious about the lack of timing, concentration and condition that jet lag brings about, it can be difficult to pick yourself up mentally

Training starts in earnest on Monday as we head to Nittaidai University for randori. By the time we’ve taken the train and marched the 20 minutes from station to dojo everyone is sweating as though we’d just finished a session not just about to start one. The previous day’s efforts had done their job and to my surprise I’m feeling sharp and really getting into it. We had been advised to ease our way into the randori and weren’t expected to do any more than four to six practices but I was really enjoying the judo and before I knew it I’d done 8x5 minutes and the session was done and dusted. Winnie told me he had felt “ok, but a bit off timing wise”, Tom said the heat had surprised him a bit and James Millar commented on the way to the changing rooms that it was “probably the worst session I’ve ever had”. I personally think he was exaggerating – I’ve seen him have much worse! So it was a mixed bag of experiences on that first session but at least we were all up and running and into the swing of things.

A lot of my training time is spent with Big Sarah (Adlington) who is my training partner back home in Edinburgh and who has chosen to train with the mens team for her final preparation block. It’s good for both of us to be training together as some continuity is kept from training at home. From my side the fact that Sarah is a bit of a joker helps to keep the tension of the upcoming tournament to a minimum and so I’m happy she is with the men.

There really isn’t much more to tell from that first week, I trained a little harder and ate a little less each day and got to the middle weekend of the trip feeling in good spirits.

The time in between sessions is the most difficult, at home there is always something to be done but here there is only training, and as we were tapering the sessions were intense but there were far less of them. Factor in eating less through dieting and this all adds up to a lot of spare time on our hands. In this age of ipods and laptops most players have a simple answer to this dilemma – tv series addiction! I like something light hearted with a bit of comedy so I got stuck into “Entourage” but the word from the girls dojo was that “True Blood” was the overwhelming favourite in their camp. In fact ask Gemma G, Scarlett, Megan or Faith anything about it and I’m sure they’ll be able to give you an answer; those girls had vampire fever in Japan !

I do randori Monday and Tuesday of weektwo and on Tuesday afternoon we are transferred across to the official hotel in the middle of the hectic city centre district of Shinjuku. And then it hits home for real. This really is the Worlds! There are judo players everywhere. You literally can’t cross the street without making eye contact with one of your prospective first round opponents. The mood of the camp becomes very quickly that little bit more serious. Everyone is just that wee bit quieter, more introverted, thinking about the momentous occasion ahead.

All the talk in the days before the competition focuses on the sheer size of the obstacle ahead. There are to be 848 competitors from 111 countries. Many of the mens weights have 70+ in them and the womens -48kg has 45 vying to be World Champion. My view on the two players per weight category rule is this. If you’re going to be World Champion you want to know you are the best. In my weight there are currently three nations with two players in the top 10 in the world. If those three players are missing and you win the Worlds can you truly call yourself the champion? Yes it’s going to be tougher than ever but it’s also going to be all the more satisfying to be the Champ!

On Wednesday the draw is done. Some of the guys look to see who they have and begin to analyse their opponents. I prefer to wait until I wake up on the morning I fight before I see who I have. If I see my draw I fight the match over and over in my head and never sleep the night before. This way I get a good night sleep and see what awaits me in the morning.

Day 1 of the competition doesn’t exactly go to plan. All of the girls are out in their first fights and Austin wins his first match but then loses a close one against the two times Junior World Champion from CZE. It’s not the start the team had imagined but as a fighter you have to put that out of your head and get ready for your own battle.

I’m 3 rd fight on Friday so don’t spend too much time at breakfast before getting my bag, which I always pack the night before, and jumping on the bus to the venue. Sarah and Billy are with me and I go through my warm up with Sarah. I start off light and build up to full on madness so I feel as though I’ve already fought a match before my first fight begins. And then I relax, sit, go through my fight plan in my head and prepare mentally. Then it’s time. We walk the 5 minute trek through the maze of corridors between the warm up room and the main arena, through judogi control and into the bright lights and scrutinising gazes of the thousands of judo fans in the stadium.

Of my seven fights I win six, three by ippon, and walked away as the World Championship Bronze medallist. In the days that have followed my initial mixed feelings of relief, joy and disappointment have begun to err towards disappointment more and more. I’m immensely proud of what I achieved however I truly feel that I was capable of being the champion of the World. I have another 12 months before I will get the chance to prove it.

The final days of the tournament saw GB pick up one more placing, a 7 th with Gemma Howells gutsy display at -57kg. She defeated the Korean and Japanese fighters, outdoing them with a combination of power and unflinching determination. It’s not often these nations are out-spirited but against Howell they could find no answer.

It was not the medal tally that the team had strived for but remember, these World Championships were being billed as the toughest in history. Also keep in mind they were the Championships that saw Zantarya vs Choi (World champion against Olympic champion), Lebrun vs Verkerk (World No 1 against World Champion) and Ono vs Gontiuk (World No 1 vs 2x Olympic medallist) all as first round match ups. With the quarter final repechage system this was as ruthless an event as you can imagine.

For me I will return back to GB, rest my battered body for a week or so, then get my head down and get back to business. I hope to defend my title at the Tokyo Grand Slam in December and then go for Masters glory in January 2011 so there is, as always, plenty hard graft to be done.

That’s all from me for this instalment. Keep enjoying your judo and I will see you all very soon.

Euan