Jonathan Drane

Drane was born in 1987.[1] Drane was a plumber with his own business but in 2011, after a routine eye check, it was discovered that he had corneal dystrophy which led to a deterioration in his eyesight, which eventually impacted on his work.[2]

Drane took to judo as a youth, stating he found it easy to concentrate on the sport.[2] He reached his 1st Dan at the age of 18 and represented the senior Great Britain team at competition.[2][3] After the deterioration of his eyesight he turned to visually impaired judo and competed in the under 73kg class. His first major senior medal at international level was a bronze in the Welsh Open in 2010.[1] In March 2012 Drane won a bronze in the English Open and followed this a month later with a gold in the Northern Ireland Open.[1]

In 2015 Drane traveled to Colorado in the United States to compete with the British team at the Blind Sports Association Judo World Championships.[4] Drane ended as Britain's only medalist of the competition with a bronze, losing to two penalties in the semi-final to Paralympic bronze medallist Eduardo Avila-Sanchez of Mexico. In the bronze medal play off he beat Cuba's Alonzo Cruz by an ippon to claim his medal.[4] In February 2016 Drane was named as part of the four-man team to travel to Rio to represent Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[3]