Judo: No fall guys for sturdy woman judoka

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Fiona Iredale - science lecturer and mother-of-one - flings New Zealand judo coach Brent Cooper on to the mat like a stuffed teddy.

The powerful Kiwi-Scotswoman would love to train against women her own size in the final days before the Olympics, but there aren't any around.

So, in a huge warehouse on a disused military base in the outer suburbs of Sydney, Iredale scuffles with New Zealand's male judokas. She can hold her own - for one, she is heavier than them.

The guys - Brendon Crooks and Tim Slyfield - do not show her any mercy.

During a session yesterday, Iredale copped an accidental kick in the chest. There were no apologies, just tittering (so to speak).

"Yeah, they really look after me," says Iredale in a deep Scottish brogue. "But it's better than practising against no one, which is the alternative."

Iredale is a relatively new Kiwi, moving from Scotland three years ago with her husband and son Jack, who is now four.

A former British champion, she quit judo for five years to complete a master's degree in sports science. But she fired up her throwing career again when she settled in Hamilton, where she lectures in biomechanics.

Iredale weighs in at 115kg, but is dwarfed by opponents - Polish favourite Beata Maksymow is a massive 160kg.

At the other end of the scale is the wiry Crooks, who fights in the lightest men's division, 60kg.

He jousts with coach Cooper - a Seoul Olympian - and today the young guy keeps coming out on top.

"That's the way it should be," says a battered Cooper, his wrist bound in a special splint after a boisterous training. It's okay - Cooper is the team bean bag, there to be tossed around.

"If these guys weren't flattening me now, I would be really worried."

While the fourth member of the New Zealand judo team, Daniel Gowing, is still on his way to Sydney from Japan, the other Kiwi coach, German Ralf Burger, gets on the mat with Slyfield.

But yesterday Burger's mind was elsewhere - his wife, former New Zealand Olympic judoka Donna Hilton, was in Frankfurt, in labour with their first child.

Burger and Cooper speak highly of all four Kiwi players, but 25-year-old Slyfield, who has been living in Germany, gets a special mention.

"Tim can beat the world's best on his day - and he already has," said Cooper. "The issue is stringing it all together on his one day of competition."

Gowing is the only one who has been to an Olympics before, finishing ninth in the under 100kg class in Atlanta.

In recent weeks, he has been troubled by a strange stomach virus and a racing heartbeat, but the coaches are confident he will be fighting fit for his event in a fortnight.

Crooks, a former national schools sailing champ, is relentless in his training, constantly tapping Cooper on the shoulder for more.

He now lives in Japan where he can train with the world's best judokas.

The Kiwis train in their own secluded compartment in the warehouse at Regent's Park, sharing the temporary venue with gymnasts, wrestlers and weightlifters.

"You get in the bus and see these monstrous athletes and say 'I hope they're not going to judo'," Cooper says. "And they're just the women."

For the first time at an Olympics, one player in each match will wear blue judo-gi (uniforms) - to allow judges and spectators to distinguish between contestants.