Megan Fletcher (born 2 August 1989) is an Irish judoka, who was born in England. She previously represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

at the international level before competing for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Personal history

Megan Fletcher was born on 2 August 1989 in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, England. She was schooled at The Emmbrook School, in

Wokingham Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...

, before going to the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

, where she has trained since 2007 with Team Bath. she resides in Wokingham, which is where her club, Pinewood Judo Club, is located. Besides judo, Fletcher is a trained

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

teacher, and teaches part-time at

The Castle School The Castle School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, England, which serves the town and the surrounding villages. Pupils from Bristol also attend the school. Th ...

Thornbury, South Gloucestershire Thornbury is a market town and civil parish in the South Gloucestershire unitary authority area of England, about north of Bristol. It had a population of 12,063 at the 2011 census, rising to 14,496 in the 2021 census. Thornbury is a Britain ...

Judo career

Fletcher began judo at the age of 5, and became a first dan black belt at the age of 15. In 2011, Fletcher participated for Great Britain at the

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

in China. At the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, held in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, Fletcher beat Moira de Villiers of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the 70 kilograms judo final, by

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In judo In judo, an ''ippon'' may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the ...

with

tate shiho gatame is one of the seven mat holds, Osaekomi-waza, of Kodokan Judo. In grappling terms, it is categorized as a mounted position. Technique description

. Fletcher reached the final despite the fact that she had her face taped up after suffering an injury to her nose against the "gold medal hope" Sally Conway of Scotland in the semi-finals; Conway was the British judo number one going into the tournament. After her victory in the final, Fletcher dedicated it to her sensei, Don Werner, who had been her coach at Pinewood and died in January 2014 of cancer. Fletcher's younger brother

Ben Fletcher Benjamin Harrison Fletcher (April 13, 1890 – 1949) was an early 20th-century African-American labor leader and public speaker. He was a prominent member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or the "Wobblies"), a left-wing trade union wh ...

was due to compete in the judo category, but a week before the event he suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw; he was replaced by Danny Williams. Megan is currently ranked 40th in the world in the 70 kg category by the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) is the international governing body for judo, founded in July 1951. Today the IJF has 200 National Federations on all continents. There are over 20 million people around the globe who practice judo, accordi ...

. In 2020, she competed in the women's 70 kg event at the

2020 European Judo Championships The 2020 European Judo Championships were held in Prague, Czech Republic from 19 to 21 November 2020. Medal overview Men Women Medal table Participating nations References External links * Results
{{European championsh ...

held in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2021, she competed in the women's 70 kg event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo, Japan. Megan now works as a Geography teacher at The Castle School Thornbury.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Megan 1989 births Living people English female judoka Irish female judoka Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Judoka at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Reading, Berkshire Sportspeople from Wokingham Commonwealth Games gold medallists in judo European Games competitors for Ireland Judoka at the 2015 European Games Judoka at the 2019 European Games Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for Ireland Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Alumni of the University of Bath 21st-century English sportswomen 21st-century Irish sportswomen