Oates keeping fingers crossed more funding comes judo's way

By Richard Anderson, Sportsbeat

JUDOKA Colin Oates admits he's eager to ride the Olympic gravy train all the way to London 2012.

Oates joined the cream of British sport as the British judo representative at the unveiling of Visa's £10m sponsorship of Team 2012.

UK Sport also pledged to plough a further £7,636,200 into the sport in the run up to the London Olympics - dwarfing the contributions made to taekwondo, wrestling and fencing.

And the 2008 World Cup gold medallist admits he'll leave no stone unturned in his bid to cement Judo's place at sport's top table.

"I've had a boost recently by being included in the Team 2012 which will hopefully give us a lot of extra funding," said Oates.

"Judo doesn't get much funding, so any extra money will benefit the sport so much. Hopefully we can show that we are deserving of the extra funding.

"It's nice to be recognised and hopefully we can keep it that way.  I will do everything I can to achieve that.

"I also went to the Olympic Stadium at the start of the month which was amazing to see - it really brings it all to life when you see it.

"It's made me even more determined to go out and work as hard as I can so that I can do well in London.

"There is a lot of hard work to put in between now and then but I'm looking forward to seeing how far I can push myself."

Oates crashed out of August's World Championships in the opening round to Fin Niko-Tapio Niemela.

But after finishing fifth at January's World Cup in Tbilisi, the 66kg Judoka insists he has the class to take a podium place at London 2012.

"There is a clock in my training camp which counts down the days to the Olympics so it's always there in the background reminding us that it's coming-up," added Oates.

"I can't believe that it's only 1,000 days to go until the Olympics - it's come onto us so quickly but I can't wait.

"But obviously the long-term the goal is to get to London 2012 and to try and get amongst the medals there."