Megan Fletcher
Megan Fletcher (born 2 August 1989) is an English born athlete who represented England and Great Britain judo at international level before switching her sporting allegiance to the Republic of Ireland.
Personal information | |||||||||||
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Nationality | Irish | ||||||||||
Born | Reading, England | 2 August 1989||||||||||
Education | The Emmbrook School | ||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Bath | ||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) (2014) | ||||||||||
Weight | 154 lb (70 kg) (2014) | ||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||
Sport | Judo | ||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||
Highest world ranking | 38 | ||||||||||
Medal record
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Updated on 7 September 2014. |
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]
Megan now works as a Geography teacher at The Castle School Thornbury.
References
- "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.
- Fricker, Mark (9 March 2014). "Inglemunster and English Open". Pinewood Judo Club. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "Megan Fletcher". British Judo. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "How to find the club". Pinewood Judo Club. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- Dirs, Ben (25 July 2014). "Glasgow 2014: England and Scotland continue judo dominance". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- Maul, Rob (26 July 2014). "Megan Fletcher wins gold for England in 70kg judo at Commonwealth Games". The Daily Star. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "Megan Fletcher". University of Bath. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "Megan Fletcher". Commonwealth Games 2014. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "Selected athletes". University of Bath. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- Reid, Alesdair (26 July 2014). "Gy trips pay off for late call-up Williams". The Daily Telegraph. Sports. p. 9. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "Glasgow 2014: Judo player Megan Fletcher makes final despite injury". BBC Sport. BBC. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "-70kg" (PDF). International Judo Federation. 21 July 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- "Results". 2020 European Judo Championships. Archived from the original on 21 November 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.