My name is Gary Hall, I’m 24 and living in Bristol. My aim is to raise £2,000 to continue to pursue my dream of qualifyng for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games!
I started judo at 4 years old and started winning competitions as soon as I entered them. I was named West of England ‘Player of the Year’ 3 years running.
At 12 I was old enough to fight for a place on the British junior judo squad, which I achieved and held on to for the next 8 years. During this period I was the British National Judo Champion 4 times.
I was selected for many top internationals including the Russian Cup, the Cadet Europeans and the Junior World Judo Championships, and I was funded by the Olympic Committee on a scheme called TASS – for talented athletes, which was based at Bath University.
As a senior I am now self-funding (I receive no funding from GB) and finding it difficult to afford the foreign competitions and training camps that I need.
I am a family man, a proud husband and dad to my daughter, and, like most people, I am in full time employment.
I get up at 5.30am every morning to go to the gym before going to my office job. I train most evenings and for a full day each Wednesday at Bath University, where I am a member of Team Bath and follow their full time intense programme.
After picking up a serious knee injury in 2012 I was out of action for some time, going through rehab and bringing myself back fighting fit, I returned in November 2013 and completed at a senior European Cup in Malaga where I took Gold.
This gave me a huge boost for my confidence!
In December 2013 I competed in the British Trials and have secured myself a place on the Senior British Judo squad, again.
In March 2014, I competed in my first World Ranking event in Argentina called the Pan American Cup (Continental Open) wher I took Silver. This result led me to comlete in my next World Ranking event in Madrid where I won a bronze medal and gained my very first ranking points for the Rio 2016 Olympics!
In July 2014, I competed for Team England at the Commonwealth Games where I won a bronze medal. This was a fantastic achievement and so far a personal best in my career.
Towards the end of 2014 I had some great experience competing in the Croatia Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam where I won more valuable qualifying points towards Rio 2016 and finished the year as British Senior Junior Championwith a Gold medal in the British Judo Championships.
This year started off with the Bulgaria World Cup and Germany Grand Prix where I again gained more points towards Rio 2016 Olympics qualification.
In March 2015, I travelled to Africa (Casablanca) for the African Open and achieved a 5th place. Coming back from this event I went to Germany for a training camp with their national team.
In June 2015 I competed in the Romanian World Cup and then the Belarusian World Cup where I finished 7th.
I am currently ranked around 60 in the World Rankings (aka the Olympic Games qualification list) where the top 22 qualify for Rio 2016.
Continuously travelling the world training and competing is very costly, with each event between £400-£800. This £2,000 would help me to finish 2015 with more events and increase my chance of qualifying for Rio 2016.
Thank you for your support and taking the time to read my page.