Olympics 2016: Judo's Colin Oates considering future after loss

Judoka Colin Oates says he is considering his future after losing in the 2016 Rio Olympic -66kg first round.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games champion lost to France's Kilian Le Blouch after a penalty in golden score.

"People say to me 'you're only 33', but 33 in judo is old. In February I was almost on the verge of not wanting to come," the Norfolk athlete said.

"I had a good few months, won European silver, but now it's time to reassess and see what comes next."

He continued: "I never say never (about competing at Tokyo 2020). I think my staff may say it's a bit out of reach, maybe British Judo will look to youth for the next four years and maybe they're right to do so."

Neither Oates nor his opponent scored a point in the match, and Oates was eight seconds from victory before being penalised by the referee to level the scores and taking it to a golden score, where he was penalised again.

Oates continued: "I left it down to the referees, unfortunately. It was a scrappy fight, it's his style of fighting, he doesn't really want to score, he wants to win on shidos (penalties) and I played into that a little bit.

"The worst thing is I've been feeling the best I've ever felt going into these Olympics but I've not produced the performance I think my training and work ethic has deserved."