Kate HOWEY

Originally trained by her father, Kate Howey was an outstanding junior and won the European Junior Championship title in 1989 and 1990 and added the World Junior in the latter year. Howey also made an immediate impact in the senior ranks by placing second in the 1990 European Senior Championships whilst still aged 16. She repeated her European success in 1991 and continued her progress by winning a bronze at the World Championships in Barcelona. Howey’s first attempt to win an Olympic title was ended by eventual champion Odalis Revé but she came through the repêchage system to claim the bronze medal. She was defeated in the finals of both World and European Championships in 1993 and added further bronze medals at the European Championships of both 1994 and 1995. After a disappointing Atlanta Olympics she briefly retired but soon returned and in 1997 gave the finest performance of her life to win the world title in the 66 kg class in Paris. Further medal successes followed in the next few years and she arrived in Sydney for the 2000 OIympics as one of the medal favourites. Again her title ambitions were thwarted by a Cuban, this time in the final by Sibelis Veranes, but at least she had the consolation of being the first British woman to win a second Olympic medal. Howey again reached the world final in 2001 but by now injuries were beginning to take their toll and she retired shortly after making her fourth and final Olympic appearance in Athens. Howey, who carried the British flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympics, turned to coaching and became lead development coach with the British Judo Association.