Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Athlete's Village, Beijing

I've left it a few days partly because I have been busy in the village food hall piling on the pounds!

But mostly because I wanted to gather my thoughts and not rush into writing anything too quickly.

I suppose I should get right down to business and let you know how I feel about my performance and the .

Everyone who knows me will know that I am absolutely gutted not to come away from these Games with a medal.

First of all let me apologise about the relative blogging silence from me in the last few weeks. As I'm sure you can imagine it has been a furiously busy period for me and all the other guys, not only in the judo team but also all of the other sports who will make up in August.

Since the last time I wrote on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ website I have been through a torturous three weeks in Japan, felt the strain of injury on the return to Scotland and the relief of getting back to business on the mat.

I have shown that I can win medals when everything goes wrong and most recently I experienced what being a member of Team GB - rather than the British judo team - feels like when I was kitted out in my Olympic gear last week.

I'm going to my first Olympics in Beijing and compete in judo's -81kg division.

I won World Championship bronze in Brazil last September, beating Athens gold medallist Gieuseppe Maddaloni to qualify for the Olympics.

I have been a judoka since the age of six and gained my black belt 10 years later.