Megan Fletcher

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.

Megan Fletcher
Personal information
NationalityIrish
Born (1989-08-02) 2 August 1989
Reading, England
EducationThe Emmbrook School
Alma materUniversity of Bath
OccupationJudoka
Height5 ft 7 in (170 cm) (2014)
Sport
Country
SportJudo
Weight class–70 kg
Achievements and titles
World Champ.5th (2021)
European Champ.7th (2019)
Olympic GamesR32 (2020)
Commonwealth GamesGold (2014)
Medal record
Women's judo
Representing  Ireland
IJF Grand Prix
Silver medal – second place 2019 Marrakesh ‍–‍70 kg
Silver medal – second place 2019 Perth ‍–‍70 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Tel Aviv ‍–‍70 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Montreal ‍–‍70 kg
Representing  Great Britain
European Cadet Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Salzburg ‍–‍57 kg
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow ‍–‍70 kg
Profile at external databases
IJF38054, 3094
JudoInside.com31873
Updated on 21 May 2023.

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] As of 2014 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[5] at The Castle School, Thornbury, South Gloucestershire.[6]

Judo career

Fletcher began judo at the age of 5,[7][8] and became a first dan black belt at the age of 15.[3] In 2011, Fletcher participated for Great Britain at the World University Games in China.[9]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, held in Glasgow, Scotland, Fletcher beat Moira de Villiers of New Zealand in the 70 kilograms judo final,[10] by ippon with tate shiho gatame.[5] Fletcher reached the final despite the fact that she had her face taped up after suffering an injury to her nose[11] against the "gold medal hope"[5] Sally Conway of Scotland in the semi-finals;[11] Conway was the British judo number one going into the tournament.[5] 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.[6] Fletcher's younger brother Ben Fletcher was due to compete in the judo 73 kilograms (161 lb) category, but a week before the event he suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw; he was replaced by Danny Williams.[10] 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.

References
  1. "Former Pinewood Judo Club star Megan Fletcher scoops Commonwealth Games gold medal in judo 70kg final". Bracknell News. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  2. Fricker, Mark (9 March 2014). "Inglemunster and English Open". Pinewood Judo Club. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  3. "Megan Fletcher". British Judo. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  4. "How to find the club". Pinewood Judo Club. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  5. Dirs, Ben (25 July 2014). "Glasgow 2014: England and Scotland continue judo dominance". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  6. Maul, Rob (26 July 2014). "Megan Fletcher wins gold for England in 70kg judo at Commonwealth Games". The Daily Star. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  7. "Megan Fletcher". University of Bath. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  8. "Megan Fletcher". Commonwealth Games 2014. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  9. "Selected athletes". University of Bath. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  10. Reid, Alesdair (26 July 2014). "Gy trips pay off for late call-up Williams". The Daily Telegraph. Sports. p. 9. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  11. "Glasgow 2014: Judo player Megan Fletcher makes final despite injury". BBC Sport. BBC. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  12. "-70kg" (PDF). International Judo Federation. 21 July 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  13. "Results". 2020 European Judo Championships. Archived from the original on 21 November 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  14. "Judo Results Book" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
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