DOUBLE PARALYMPIAN MEDALLIST JOINS JUDO ROADSHOW. Paralympic gold and bronze medallist, Chris Hunt Skelley MBE is one of the elite world class judoka who has joined the Paris Roadshow launched by British Judo. It’s aim to inspire grass roots clubs across the UK.
Following the paralympics in September, the roadshow will run for the rest of 2024 and into 2025. And judo clubs across the UK can book their Paralympic heroes to visit, inspire, educate and even run a masterclass with their members.
Chris, who lives in Wiltshire, won bronze in the +90kg class in Paris four years on from winning a gold medal in Tokyo in a different weight category. His achievement in winning two medals at two consecutive Paralympics makes him among the top achieving judo competitors in the world.
‘I’m thrilled to receive this invitation to be part of the Paris Roadshow. The roadshow’s design aims to inspire and empower young people – or anyone – who loves judo and wants to be part of this fantastic sport.
‘Not everyone wants to be an elite athlete and that’s okay. Judo is far more than that. It teaches discipline and resilience. And it builds confidence and it’s about team effort and personal achievement. All these skills are valuable to achieving your dreams in life, whatever those dreams may be,’ Chris said.
Chris, who hails from Yorkshire, now lives in Wiltshire. He’s one of several British judo athletes who are taking part in the British Judo Paris Roadshow. Another is Paris silver medallist Dan Powell, Wiltshire-based Evan Malloy and athletes Chelsea Giles and Emma Reid.
Ambassador – you’re spoiling us
In the run-up to the Paralympics, Chris was also one of five ambassadors for Path to Paris. Path to Paris is an initiative set up by Get Set – the official youth engagement programme from Team GB and Paralympics GB. Chris found himself named as a top ten sports personality on the Disability Power 100 List. 2022 saw Chris receive an MBE for services to sport.
Chris is registered as having a visual impairment and lives with ocular albinism. Ocular albinism is a rare genetic condition. It’s caused by the inability of pigment cells in the eyes to produce normal amounts of pigment. It results in blurred vision, difficulty with perceiving depth of field and sensitivity to bright lights.
To find out more about British Judo’s Paris Roadshow visit https://www.britishjudo.org.uk/introducing-british-judos-paris-roadshow/
Chris Hunt Skelley’s website is here: https://chrishuntskelley.co.uk/
