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On Wednesday 14 July a
tornado hit Belgium and hospitalised a number of young British
judo stars after ripping the roof off the sports hall where they
were training in Jodoigne.
The Belgium camp was taken
by the country’s 2001 World Championships silver medallist Cédric
Taymans who presided over 150 players including seniors and juniors
from his home country, France, Luxembourg and Britain’s finest
youngsters.
The sun-soaked venue descended
into frantic scenes when the wind suddenly picked up and the tornado
hit while the players were doing uch-komi, an attacking move to
control or throw an opponent.
Kent’s Tonbridge Judo Club
arranged the trip for the young Brit’s, which featured 14-year-old
George Goldsmith from JSC Judo Club in Essex, who recalls the
terrifying experience.
“All of a sudden the doors
flew open while we were in the middle of training,” he said.
“There was a huge gust
of wind and I looked around and I saw about six people trying
to shut the door. All I heard was a massive crash and the roof
came off and I tried to grab my teammate Kieran Davin’s sleeve
but the wind picked him up and threw him to the floor.
“One of the coaches, Colin
Eldridge from Tonbridge, grabbed Kieran but I was still in there,
a piece of debris hit me in the arm and knocked me to the ground
and one of the beams from the roof hit me in the leg, I pushed
it off and managed to run down the corridor.
George added: “When the
storm went over us it left trees across the road but we managed
to get to the hospital. I badly bruised my leg and my judo suit
was covered in blood from a player of a different country who’d
been hit when the roof come off. “
The highly-regarded youngster
was forced out of competing at the National Team Championships
in Wolverhampton on Saturday 17 July, with a bruised leg and was
seen limping around the Walsall Sports Campus as he supported
his club and county colleagues.
His pocket-sized international
colleague, 14-year-old Kieran Davin, of Moberly Judo Club in London,
was lucky to escape serious injury.
“It was pretty scary; I
heard a bang and then saw a coach trying to close the door and
he got pulled outside,” he said.
“Then the roof come off
and smashed and everything was falling, the wall fell down next
to me and our coach Colin grabbed me and pinned me to the wall
to protect me.
“As he picked me up a Belgian
player got hit by a block from the wall and had to have 32 stitches,
his blood was all over me. We sprinted towards the corridor and
saw George who’d had his leg hit by a beam.”
The heroic Colin Eldridge,
50, rescued several youngsters as the venue collapsed around him.
“I grabbed Kieran as he
come flying past me and rounded up the whole squad but I didn’t
do anything more than anyone else would have done,” said the 1
st Dan.
“As it started it was quite
scary when I was trying to get everyone together so you can’t
imagine the relief when I knew I had everyone safe, which was
the main thing for me, I calmed down then.”
Eldridge added: “I’ve never
seen anything like it in all my life; the wind erupted and destroyed
the building in just a couple of minutes.”
Despite the ordeal Kieran
competed on Saturday and was part of the gold medal-winning London
team who triumphed in the cadet boys’ category at the National
Teams event.
Kieran’s fellow Londoner,
British senior star Ashley McKenzie, who won his third consecutive
British Open in May, was among the London teams coaching setup
and reserved high praise for one of the city’s top prospects.
“He’s a very good player
technically and his tactics were spot on,” said the 60kg standout.
“To do that after what
happened in Belgium is even more impressive.”
The tornado was described
as a ‘natural phenomenon’ by mayor Jean-Paul Wahl.
“A tornado hit Jodoigne
but we’ve not had rain, the very strong winds took away many roofs,”
he said.
"It is a natural phenomenon
that has made this kind of damage."
British Judo Association’s
Performance Operations Manager, Karen Roberts, was relieved to
see the young squad return from Belgium without any serious injuries.
“It was quite an ordeal
but fortunately all the squad returned back safely on Thursday
night via Eurostar,” she said.
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