Karina Bryant

Karina Bryant

Bryant (in blue Judogi) competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London
Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1979-01-27) 27 January 1979 (age 38) Kingston-upon-Thames, London
Residence	Camberley, Surrey
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in) (2012)
Weight	103 kg (227 lb) (2012)
Sport
Country	United Kingdom
Sport	Judo
Event(s)	+78kg class
Club	Camberley judo club
Coached by	Luke Preston
Retired	2 August 2013
Medal record Women's judo Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 2012 London +78 kg World Championships 2001 Munich Open class 2003 Osaka Open class 2005 Cairo +78 kg 2005 Cairo Open class 2009 Rotterdam +78 kg 1999 Birmingham +78 kg 2003 Osaka +78 kg European Championships 1998 Oviedo +78 kg 2000 Wroclaw +78 kg 2003 Düsseldorf +78 kg 2005 Rotterdam +78 kg 2004 Bucharest +78 kg 2001 Paris Open class 2012 Chelyabinsk +78 kg
Updated on 4 August 2012.

Karina Bryant (born 27 January 1979) is a British judoka. She has represented Great Britain at four successive Olympics, winning the bronze medal in the heavyweight event at her final Games, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She was a seven-time medallist at both the European Judo Championships and the World Judo Championships, and has been European Champion on four occasions.

Bryant announced her retirement from professional Judo in August 2013.

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.

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 made her first Olympic appearance at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. She was a member of the British squad that attended the opening ceremony and has fond memories of it, "I remember just seeing so many British flags and it felt so good. I will never forget that moment." She reached the round of 16, but was eliminated from the competition.

She was selected twice more for Great Britain at the Olympics in 2008 2004 in Athens, and in Beijing in. She reached the quarter finals in 2004, but did not make it through the repechage round, and only reached the round of 16 once more in 2008.

She suffered an injury to her neck in 2011 and was unable to train for six months, but she took part in an intensive month of training during 2012 to restore her fitness levels. She had been funded by the National Lottery so that she could train for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but found it financially difficult to do so. She launched a campaign to raise £5,000 so that she could afford to buy a car to replace her existing one, as she had suffered numerous problems with it. 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.