Euan Burton's awareness of his limitations does not betray a lack of self-belief. Instead, it has been the bedrock of his impressive achievements in judo over the last 12 months. At 28, he has finally taken a place on the world stage after years of endless toil and plentiful disappointments.
Burton's is a tale of character as much as talent. The Edinburgh player, who is No.1 in Europe in the 81kg category, admits to not being a "fantastic natural athlete", but there are plenty who could answer to that description, yet will not make it to Beijing next year.
Burton will be there, though, after having booked a seat on the plane for next year's Olympic Games by securing a bronze medal in the world championships in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month.
Burton's is a tale of character as much as talent. The Edinburgh player, who is No.1 in Europe in the 81kg category, admits to not being a "fantastic natural athlete", but there are plenty who could answer to that description, yet will not make it to Beijing next year.
Burton will be there, though, after having booked a seat on the plane for next year's Olympic Games by securing a bronze medal in the world championships in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month.
It book-ended a cathartic year for the Edinburgh player, who also took bronze at this year's European championships and gold in the prestigious Super World Cup event in Moscow. It is testament to the high standards he sets himself that he is rueful over the third-place finish which secured his presence in China next year.
"It was a relief to qualify for Beijing and get my first world championship medal," he reflected. "It was also mixed with a wee bit of disappointment in reaching the semi-finals, where I lost by the smallest margin you can lose by. I felt, with the way I was going in the tournament, I could have won it. The difference between being world bronze medallist and world champion is massive, but I'd rather have a bronze this year and a gold next in Beijing.
"The whole year has been good for me and good for my confidence. It has shown me that I can put a string of fights together to get a medal. I win fights by grafting really hard. I'm not a fantastic natural athlete, but it success has always been coming. It takes a few results to get you up there mentally.
"Beijing will be my first Olympics. I know I can medal. Judo is the kind of sport where someone can come right out the blue and win a medal. But the consistency I've had over the last 18 months, and what I did at the worlds and the Europeans, means I know I can take a medal. If I'm in and around the medals, there's no reason that I can't be Olympic champion."
Burton's appreciation of his current success stems from a knowledge of adversity. It is eight years since he quit a business studies degree at Edinburgh University to concentrate on judo full time. He then started to develop his own, unorthodox style, designed to utilise his height, but the biggest disappointment of his career was still to come. In 2004, Burton came agonisingly close to qualifying for the Athens Olympics. "I missed out on Athens by the tightest of margins. You had to be in the top nine and I finished tenth."
Pragmatic to the core, Burton cheered on the Great Britain team in the Greek capital then, when the judo was finished, immediately left for a six-week training camp in Japan. "People's pre-conceptions are that if you are No.1 in your country in any sport, you went to the Olympics. It's a lot different now. For us, it is top nine in Europe, which is phenomenally difficult to achieve. I didn't want to be walking around Athens and for people to be saying: I thought you were No.1 in Britain; why aren't you at the Olympics?' So I went to Japan and did six weeks' training."
Burton speaks warmly of the support he has received from his parents - "even if I won 10 Olympic golds I still couldn't pay them back" - and his coach Billy Cusack. He also believes Scotland has the appropriate infrastructure, both in terms of athlete support and funding, to produce even more world-class sportsmen and women in the future.
"Scotland is now getting a structure where people aren't only relying on their families," said Burton, who collected a National Lottery World Class award in Glasgow earlier this week. "They're able to rely on governing bodies, the institutes of sport, area institutes and lottery funding. There's no reason why more and more people in Scotland cannot be world powers in their sport.
"Hopefully, that will be proved if Glasgow gets the 2014 Games. My big thing is Beijing at the moment, but I want to stick around until London Olympics in 2012. I'll be 33 by then.
Two years after that in 2014 when the Commonwealth Games could be staged by Glasgow, I'll be 35, which is pushing it for a top-level judo player. However, if all my limbs are in the right place then, I might still be around."
"It was a relief to qualify for Beijing and get my first world championship medal," he reflected. "It was also mixed with a wee bit of disappointment in reaching the semi-finals, where I lost by the smallest margin you can lose by. I felt, with the way I was going in the tournament, I could have won it. The difference between being world bronze medallist and world champion is massive, but I'd rather have a bronze this year and a gold next in Beijing.
"The whole year has been good for me and good for my confidence. It has shown me that I can put a string of fights together to get a medal. I win fights by grafting really hard. I'm not a fantastic natural athlete, but it success has always been coming. It takes a few results to get you up there mentally.
"Beijing will be my first Olympics. I know I can medal. Judo is the kind of sport where someone can come right out the blue and win a medal. But the consistency I've had over the last 18 months, and what I did at the worlds and the Europeans, means I know I can take a medal. If I'm in and around the medals, there's no reason that I can't be Olympic champion."
Burton's appreciation of his current success stems from a knowledge of adversity. It is eight years since he quit a business studies degree at Edinburgh University to concentrate on judo full time. He then started to develop his own, unorthodox style, designed to utilise his height, but the biggest disappointment of his career was still to come. In 2004, Burton came agonisingly close to qualifying for the Athens Olympics. "I missed out on Athens by the tightest of margins. You had to be in the top nine and I finished tenth."
Pragmatic to the core, Burton cheered on the Great Britain team in the Greek capital then, when the judo was finished, immediately left for a six-week training camp in Japan. "People's pre-conceptions are that if you are No.1 in your country in any sport, you went to the Olympics. It's a lot different now. For us, it is top nine in Europe, which is phenomenally difficult to achieve. I didn't want to be walking around Athens and for people to be saying: I thought you were No.1 in Britain; why aren't you at the Olympics?' So I went to Japan and did six weeks' training."
Burton speaks warmly of the support he has received from his parents - "even if I won 10 Olympic golds I still couldn't pay them back" - and his coach Billy Cusack. He also believes Scotland has the appropriate infrastructure, both in terms of athlete support and funding, to produce even more world-class sportsmen and women in the future.
"Scotland is now getting a structure where people aren't only relying on their families," said Burton, who collected a National Lottery World Class award in Glasgow earlier this week. "They're able to rely on governing bodies, the institutes of sport, area institutes and lottery funding. There's no reason why more and more people in Scotland cannot be world powers in their sport.
"Hopefully, that will be proved if Glasgow gets the 2014 Games. My big thing is Beijing at the moment, but I want to stick around until London Olympics in 2012. I'll be 33 by then.
Two years after that in 2014 when the Commonwealth Games could be staged by Glasgow, I'll be 35, which is pushing it for a top-level judo player. However, if all my limbs are in the right place then, I might still be around."
FONTE: The Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK
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