Commonwealth Games: Judoka Sarah Adlington clings to second gold eight years after first
- Published
Commonwealth Games: Scotland's Sarah Adlington retains +78kg judo title
2022 Commonwealth Games |
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Hosts: Birmingham Dates: 28 July to 8 August |
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV with extra streams on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport mobile app; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra; live text and clips online. |
Eight years ago Sarah Adlington briefly lost her gold medal in a security scanner at the Glasgow athletes village. "This one is staying tied to me," the 35-year-old said with a grin.
And no wonder. The 35-year-old from Edinburgh has had to wait eight years to defend the +78kg crown she claimed in 2014.
When judo was axed for the Gold Coast Games eight years ago, Adlington was left devastated, hoping it would return before her career ended.
How she relished the chance when it came around again.
Trailing to India's India's Tulika Maan, she produced the decisive ippon, which made her the first judoka ever to claim two Commonwealth gold medals.
The tears at the end showed what it meant. Joy, but the feeling of a weight lifted from her shoulders.
"Anything other than gold would have felt like a disaster," an emotional Adlington said.
"I guess the residing emotion at the minute is just relief.
"The pressure was on. Expectation from not only just myself but everybody else. To be standing here as double Commonwealth champion...I'm obviously ecstatic but I'm massively relieved at the same time."
The Coventry Arena in Birmingham might as well have been in Edinburgh, given the number of Saltires and Lion Rampant flags which littered the stands. The travelling support for Adlington was extraordinary.
The loudest moment came when when emerged from the bowels of the arena to take centre stage, and a rousing rendition of Flower of Scotland ended the night.
Off the mats, Adlington was given embrace after embrace from friends, family, and coaches, and there were a lot of shared tears.
She was not alone in showing her emotion either. Rachel Tytler, 25, in her first games, claimed a bronze medal as she secured victory in under 30 seconds.
"It's amazing! I'm buzzing!" Tytler said. "As soon as I saw the referee put her hand up I looked straight at my coach and the place just erupted. It was brilliant.
"I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, smile, I was all over the place but once I bowed, I looked up and spotted a couple of my friends from uni and their faces, and they had the flag and everything. It was brilliant."