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...

Getting Ready for my first comp. after the games.

So just a short post to update people who are checking the site out, I will be back in competition on the 5th of Oct, here in Montreal at the Rendez Vous canada.. which is basically our Canadian open. So far there are a lot of good quality players from around the world entered and it should be a great event.

As for me, my training is getting back to normal. To be honest it took me awhile before I actually felt like training again. I put so much effort into training and getting ready for the games that I was a little burnt out afterwards.

These next two weeks leading up to the Canadian Open I will be going at 100%, im not going to take anytime off before the tournament because for me the goal is to continue training until the world cup in feb.

Well like I said just a short update, off to take my nap. :P...

First week Home – Perth homecoming

The first week back in Canada was great! I relaxed, worked out a bit. I had some time to think about my game plan for the upcoming season – what my goals are etc. But before I got a chance to do all that I actually had to head back to Perth for the Olympians Homecoming – which was the DAY AFTER I got home!! When I first heard about it, I really didn’t think I was going to feel like getting off a plane and then drive home for a homecoming. Well I am so glad that I did, the homecoming was amazing, the afternoon started off with a press conference at cods mill – which had about 4 camera crews, and some local reporters asking all of the Olympians some different questions. If you don’t know the four Olympians they are Silver medalist Ian Miller, Hammer thrower – Sultana, Swimmer
- Mike Brown, and Myself.

After the press conference was done it was down to the mustang convertibles to get our drive around the town. Two of us per car, and we sat on the back of the trunk like the beauty queens lol. We actually waved to everyone as the police escort took us towards the crystal palace. So far so good I thought – we all had no idea about what we were going to see, there must have been 1500 people waiting to greet us home. They were cheering and clapping, was a great feeling to be welcomed home like that! After the cars stopped we worked our way through the greeting crowd and onto the stage to talk to everyone who came to welcome us home. After all of us said a few words it was off to sign autographs, which only took about 2 and1/2 hours lol. None the less it was an awesome event! Which will be even better in 2012 when all of us bring home medals!

26th – Home

It was kind of sad day - getting on the bus, heading home - not because I didn’t stand on the podium, I mean I still think about my loss every day I wake up, but I’m not really sad about it anymore. The reason I was kinda sad was because maybe that was the last chance I will get to compete at such a high level. Maybe that was it, my one and only Olympics. As everyone knows nothing is promised in this world, and I am really happy that I got a chance to represent my country at the biggest sporting event worldwide. I will do my best to be here in 4 years, there are a lot of factors such as injury that will play a part in that. But when and if I do make that team for 2012 you can bet I will be going for nothing but Gold. I want to be the first person from Canada to win an Olympic gold in Judo and hopefully will a lot of hard work my dream will come true in 4 years time.

The day was pretty much the same as every travel day for us, we headed to the airport, hung out in the lounge for a bit until our boarding time was up, and then headed for home sweet home. This trip was a long one and I am looking forward to just relaxing a bit, sitting on my couch and watching some NFL football. The season will be starting soon, so I can’t wait!

25th – Our last day – Other team mates leave.

As I packed up and said good bye to my team mate, and people who I met from other sports and other countries, I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. You know everyone comes here for one reason or another, some come here for a political stand, some are here just to be here, and a lot of us, including myself came here to win, although I didn’t come home with a medal, I did come home with a little bit more insight as to how good our lives are back home and how lucky we are to be Canadian. I defiantly have had a lot of fun here, meeting new people and having some great times watching the events, and as I’m leaving – I really do begin to realize how amazing the Olympic games are – not only for a chance at glory but for so many other reasons. One world one dream is the slogan here in Beijing, and even china has adapted a real effort towards bettering people’s lives and having world peace. Or at least they look like they are trying :P. Anyways today we didn’t do anything at all, we packed up the rest of our stuff, and then went and traded some of our team Canada gear for some other gear from other countries. After that it was a relaxed night, and an early bed time.

Aug 24 Last day – closing ceremony

Today we slept in and woke up around noon, and well actually headed back to the Silk market again to finally pick up our suits, after trying the suits on and seeing what they looked like we were finally happy. After that it was back to the village to get ready for the closing ceremonies. As everyone knows we had some funny looking pyjama type closing ceremony outfits, but we had fun with it and rocked them like super stars lol.:P, I think my favourite part was the headband/ bandana :S. Anyways everyone met outside of the apt buildings and took pictures, talked a little and basically just waited until we left for the birds nest one last time. The closing ceremonies for me were not as fun and emotional as the opening because well when you walk into the opening ceremonies you really get that feeling, that says – WOW I am an Olympian. For me the closing ceremonies were a time to think about the Olympics and well – it really made me think that I want to be back in 4 years and I want to win in 4 years. The Olympics is defiantly a special event, and I am very happy to have been a part of it, but I won’t be happy in 4 years if I am just a part of it, my goal going into the games will be GOLD, and only GOLD – I will be happy with a podium, but Gold is just so much sweeter, because you get to hear your national anthem! Anyways at closing we went around and got pictures with some of the famous people like Yao Ming and of course some more with other team mates, after the Closing it was back to the village. I actually went out with everyone, but ended up coming back like 15min after being in the club because I was soo tired and just not in the mood to stay out. Yes everyone was calling me names because I went back :P.

Aug 23rd – Picking up the suit

Today we went back to the silk market to pick up our tailor made suits, which kinda back fired because they were not ready just yet, so the trip over was kind of pointless, oh well – we can’t complain too much, because the prices are crazy good. After going to the silk market it was back to the apt buildings to take a nap because tonight was going to be the last big night out for everyone. After waking up we got dressed and headed off to a club called GT banana, which I must say is a pretty nice club, the only bad part was the music was the loudest I have ever heard in a club, but I guess I got used to it. Tonight was an all or nothing night – we went out with about 50 Canadians and also some other countries ended up coming along as well. When we got there we got a huge vip area on the top floor looking over the dance floor, which was below. Frazer, Keith and myself decided to order a couple of bottles and pretend to be high rollers for the night, which is not very hard in china because everything is so cheap lol.. either way the Canadians rocked that club – we ended up being the center of attention and it turned out to be a pretty fun night. The club actually has a bouncing dance floor, so it kinda jumps up and down, they also had some crazy bubbles that were going into the crowd, most of the Canadians were just happy sitting up top and relaxing but it was pretty fun to watch. Plus it was also packed down on the dance floor so we actually didn’t end up going down there. After the night started to wrap up we headed back to the village and went to bed, but only after hitting up the 24hr cafeteria :P