Olympic dream is alive06 February 2008 NEWHAM judo star Theo Spalding-McIntosh has sets his sights firmly on Olympic glory after making a silver medal-winning senior debut at the Common-wealth Judo Champ-ionships in Mauritius, writes LUKE WILSON.Although he revealed his displeasure at his performance, the 18-year-old certainly did not look out of place against some experienced opponents in the 100kg-plus section, most of whom were much older than himself, and the event will surely serve as another step on his path to London 2012 success.
"I'm looking at 2012 as my main target," he stated.
"From there we'll see how it goes, but I want to take my judo as far as I can."
I want to win as many medals as I can, at as high a level as I can and the London Olympics will definitely be my primary aim.
"Before then, the Forest Gate teenager will have many opportunities to test himself against the highest echelon of judo players.
He has already shown maturity beyond his years on the African island, where he also won the gold in the junior section.
Spalding-McIntosh showed he can certainly mix it at the highest level, by finishing second after three wins from his four bouts in the senior event, including a success over eventual home-town champion Andy L'Eveille.
However he greeted his success on his senior bow with a huge tinge of dissatisfaction.
"I was disappointed with the result and it was pretty much my own fault that I lost my first fight because I thought I could have beaten the South African (Willem van den Heever)," he revealed.
"It was my first fight of the day and it was pretty much a feeling out process for the rest of the day. If I'd had him later in the day, then I feel I would have beaten him but the luck of the draw went against me.
He continued: "I was the youngest in the seniors and although I've competed in senior events in Britain before, this was a bit of a step up."
The hardest fight I had was against the Indian because I'd never fought someone from that part of the world, with that style of fighting before."They fight in more of a wrestling style as opposed to traditional judo and so that was difficult to deal with to start with. But in the end, the fact that we had such opposing styles helped me - he wasn't used to my more up-right judo.
"His success over the experienced Pawan Kumar, illustrated perfectly the 18-year-old's adaptability that will be tested to the full when he competes at senior level on a more regular basis.
Although this year's Beijing Olympics may have come too soon, Spalding-McIntosh aims to win a medal at the 2008 European Junior Championships before hopefully qualifying for the World Juniors in Vietnam.If he can continue to make the seemingly boundless improvements he currently is, then mark this Newham boy down for an Olympic medal come 2012.
FONTE (image include): Newham Recorder - London,England,UK
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