Megan Fletcher Explained

Megan Fletcher
Nationality:Irish
Birth Date:1989 8, df=yes
Birth Place:Reading, England
Education:The Emmbrook School
Alma Mater:University of Bath
Height:5 ft 7 in (2014)
Weight Class:–70 kg
Worlds Rank:5
Worlds Year:2021
Worlds Weight:Women's 70 kg
Regionals Type:EU
Regionals Rank:7
Regionals Year:2019
Regionals Weight:Women's 70 kg
Olympics Rank:R32
Olympics Year:2020
Olympics Weight:Women's 70 kg
Commonwealth Rank:1
Commonwealth Year:2014
Commonwealth Weight:Women's 70 kg
Updated:21 May 2023

Megan Fletcher (born 2 August 1989) is an Irish judoka, who was born in England. She previously represented England and Great Britain judo at the international level before competing for the Republic of Ireland.

Personal history

Megan Fletcher was born on 2 August 1989 in Reading, England. She was schooled at The Emmbrook School, in Wokingham,[1] before going to the University of Bath, where she has trained since 2007 with Team Bath.[2] she resides in Wokingham,[3] which is where her club, Pinewood Judo Club, is located.[4]

Besides judo, Fletcher is a trained geography teacher, and teaches part-time at The Castle School, Thornbury, South Gloucestershire.[5]

Judo career

Fletcher began judo at the age of 5,[6] [7] and became a first dan black belt at the age of 15. In 2011, Fletcher participated for Great Britain at the World University Games in China.[8]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, held in Glasgow, Scotland, Fletcher beat Moira de Villiers of New Zealand in the 70 kilograms judo final,[9] by ippon with tate shiho gatame. Fletcher reached the final despite the fact that she had her face taped up after suffering an injury to her nose against the "gold medal hope" Sally Conway of Scotland in the semi-finals;[10] Conway was the British judo number one going into the tournament.[11] After her victory in the final, Fletcher dedicated it to her sensei, Don Werner, who had been her coach at Pinewood and died in January 2014 of cancer. Fletcher's younger brother Ben Fletcher was due to compete in the judo 73kg (161lb) category, but a week before the event he suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw; he was replaced by Danny Williams. Megan is currently ranked 40th in the world in the 70kg category by the International Judo Federation.[12]

In 2020, she competed in the women's 70 kg event at the 2020 European Judo Championships held in Prague, Czech Republic.[13] In 2021, she competed in the women's 70 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.[14]

Megan now works as a Geography teacher at The Castle School Thornbury.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Former Pinewood Judo Club star Megan Fletcher scoops Commonwealth Games gold medal in judo 70kg final . Bracknell News . 25 July 2014 . 27 July 2014.
  2. Web site: Inglemunster and English Open . Pinewood Judo Club . 9 March 2014 . 27 July 2014 . Fricker, Mark.
  3. Web site: Megan Fletcher . British Judo . 27 July 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140702101511/http://britishjudo.org.uk/megan-fletcher-athlete-profile . 2 July 2014 . dmy-all .
  4. Web site: How to find the club . Pinewood Judo Club . 27 July 2014.
  5. Web site: Megan Fletcher wins gold for England in 70kg judo at Commonwealth Games . The Daily Star . 26 July 2014 . 27 July 2014 . Maul, Rob.
  6. Web site: Megan Fletcher . University of Bath . 27 July 2014.
  7. Web site: Megan Fletcher . Commonwealth Games 2014 . 25 July 2014 . 27 July 2014.
  8. Web site: Selected athletes . University of Bath . 28 July 2014.
  9. News: Gy trips pay off for late call-up Williams . The Daily Telegraph . 26 July 2014 . 27 July 2014 . Reid, Alesdair . Sports . 9.
  10. Web site: Glasgow 2014: Judo player Megan Fletcher makes final despite injury . BBC . BBC Sport . 25 July 2014 . 27 July 2014.
  11. Web site: Glasgow 2014: England and Scotland continue judo dominance . BBC . BBC Sport . 25 July 2014 . 28 July 2014 . Dirs, Ben.
  12. Web site: -70kg . International Judo Federation . 21 July 2014 . 27 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140731231148/http://www.intjudo.eu/upload/2014_07/20/140585876977614316/ijf_senior_wrl_2014_07_21.pdf . 31 July 2014 . dead . dmy-all .
  13. Web site: Results. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201121173338/http://judolive01.lb.judobase.org/www.judo-world.net/eju/european/ec_sen2020_prague/tta.php?tta_mode=&aktion=pdf_sheet&klasse=&sprache=english. 21 November 2020. 5 December 2020. 2020 European Judo Championships.
  14. Web site: Judo Results Book. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20210801000704/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/resOG2020-/pdf/OG2020-/JUD/OG2020-_JUD_B99_JUD-------------------------------.pdf. 1 August 2021. 1 August 2021. Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.