Hey Everyone,

So I guess your wondering why I have not been on my blog at all in the last 2 years or more now, well I guess I don't really have an excuse :P, except that I have just been busy with everything. So let me catch everyone up on where I am in my life and how my judo is going.

After my lost at last Olympics I found it very hard to stay focused on judo and it took me awhile to get the confidence back that I needed to start winning again. Actually from the end of Feb 2008 until the same tournament in 2009 I did not win a single match at the 4 world cup events I participated in. I was really struggling with winning on the big stage. A lot of people don't understand how much we as athletes sacrifice and what we put out bodies through day in and day out. Its taxing mentally, emotionally and of course physically. Judo is not like other sports - there is no peak season, rest time or relaxation. The only time we are not training or competing is for one week during Christmas and when we get injured, but then there is the physio, the weights and the massage. And trust me the massage is not as relaxing as it sounds when you have a Russian therapist :P.

For the 2012 Olympics the IJF - international Judo federation changed the qualification system for the Olympics. They wanted only the best of the best at the Olympics plus some wild cards. So I will break it down for you. ONLY the top 22 men in each weight division will qualify, so you have to be ranked in the top 22 in the world just to make it to the Olympics. Now that being said the draw is for 32 people so the IJF will give out 10 wild cards to poor countries who could not afford to go to all the world cups around the world to qualify themselves. So for myself I need to be ranked in the top 22. As of right now I have a world ranking of 8th!.. In order to collect points for the Olympic there are world cups that are all over the world, so we travel and we travel and we travel some more, from Canada to all over Europe and even to Mongolia and back to asia... this year has been crazy because well the Olympic selection start 2010... which also makes judo different from a lot of other sports... Well to sum it all up for you, training is going good, I'm focused on getting results and trying to make my own path to the 2012 Olympics!

So that was how judo is going, now on a personal note - I am a father now. My daughter Emma was born on Feb 25th, 2010 and she is doing great. I call her my good luck charm because since I found out I was going to have a kid my results have just kept getting better and better.

As I write this blog to everyone, I am actually in Azerbaijan getting ready to compete at the World Masters - which is a tournament that only the top 16 players in the world from each division are invited too. This is also a pointable tournament for the Olympics. The draw will be out soon on www.ippon.org if anyone wants to check it out. Well I hope you guys enjoy the blog, please leave some comments so that I know people are actually reading it :P...