Sally Conway (born 1 February 1987) is a Scottish retired

judoka 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 ...

who competed for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

in the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in the women's 70 kg judo event. Conway won a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics. She competed for

Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Scotland competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games as the host nation in Glasgow from 23 July to 3 August 2014. A team of 310 athletes, consisting of 168 men and 142 women, were selected to compete in 17 disciplines. Medalists , style="text-alig ...

, where she won a bronze medal at the at women's 70 kg judo event. As of 2024, Conway coaches Sweden's national judo team.

Biography

Conway was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

in 1987. Conway took up judo at the age of ten in her home town of Bristol. She trains at Judo Scotland's

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

headquarters in

Ratho Ratho () is a village in the rural west part of the City of Edinburgh council area, Scotland. Its population at the 2011 census was 1,634 based on the 2010 definition of the locality. It was formerly in the old county of Midlothian (historic), ...

, having previously trained at Bisham Abbey. She competed for Scotland in 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 ...

, where she won a bronze medal in the −70 kg division. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she beat Chad's

Carine Ngarlemdana Carine Ngarlemdana (born 13 November 1994) is a Chadian judoka. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's -70 kg event. She was the flag bearer for Chad at the opening ceremony. Early life Carine Ngarlemdana was born in N'Djamena, ...

with an

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 ...

score after scoring with a wazaari. She then lost to second seed

Edith Bosch Edith Bosch (born 31 May 1980) is a Dutch judoka. Her Olympic debut was at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney where she finished seventh. She won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the middleweight division. She was also European champi ...

, to a wazari after being penalised with a shido for backing off. In 2013, she won the Olympic Athlete of the Year from the British Olympic Association and Female Player of the Year at the British Judo Awards. She was the only Scot to be part of the British team sent to the 2016 Judo World Championships. Conway was selected for the 2016 European Championships. She competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 70 kg category, defeating Israel's

Linda Bolder Linda Bolder (; born 3 July 1988 in Velserbroek, Netherlands) is a Dutch-born Israeli Olympic judoka. A three-time European age-group judo champion as a junior, two-time Dutch senior women's champion, and silver medalist in the 2013 European C ...

in the quarter-finals, and then defeating Austria's

Bernadette Graf Bernadette Graf (born 25 June 1992) is an Austrian judoka. Graf represented Austria at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. In May 2023, Graf completed basic training with the Austrian police together with Sabrina Filzmoser and on May 17, 2023, ...

to win the bronze medal.Live Olympics 2016 day five, live: Sally Conway storms to three emphatic victories by ippon at the judo and into the final four
''The Daily Telegraph'', 10 August 2016 In May 2019, Conway was selected to compete at the

2019 European Games The 2nd European Games 2019 (, ''Jeŭrapiejskija huĺni 2019''; , ''Yevropeyskiye igry 2019''), also known as the 2019 European Games or Minsk 2019 (; ), were held in Minsk, Belarus, from 21 June to 30 June 2019. The games featured 200 events in ...

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. In August, Conway competed at the

2019 World Judo Championships The 2019 World Judo Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan from 25 August to 1 September 2019. Schedule ''All times are local (Japan Standard Time, UTC+9).'' Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events Mixed events Prize m ...

held in Tokyo, Japan. She won her first three fight, losing to the eventual world champion Marie Eve Gahie of France, in the semi-final. She beat Austrian Michaela Polleres in the bronze medal fight, earning her first senior medal at the World Championships. In February 2021 Conway announced her retirement from judo. She was seven times champion of Great Britain, winning the middleweight division at the

British Judo Championships The British Judo Championships are held annually and feature various age and weight categories to determine the British champion. The Championships are currently held at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Until 2013, the Championships ...

in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Sally 1987 births Living people Scottish female judoka Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for Great Britain Martial artists from Bristol Judoka at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in judo Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in judo Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland European Games competitors for Great Britain Judoka at the 2015 European Games Judoka at the 2019 European Games Scottish Olympic competitors Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games 21st-century Scottish sportswomen