Kate Louise Howey (born 31 May 1973 in

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the Test, and is situated alongside the major A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, west of the town of Basingsto ...

, England) is a former elite British

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

. She remains the only British woman to have won two Olympic judo medals (silver at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, and bronze at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona) and shares with fellow Olympic medalist

Karina Bryant Karina Bryant (born 27 January 1979) is a British retired elite judoka, who was active in elite senior competition in the 2000s and early 2010s. She represented Great Britain at four successive Olympics between 2000 and 2012, winning her first ...

the record of being the only British judoka to have competed at four Olympic Games.

Biography

Howey was born in

, and took up judo at the age of seven. In 1989, she became champion of Great Britain, winning the middleweight (66 kg) division at the British Judo Championships. The following year in 1990, she won her first international medal when taking a silver medal at the

1990 European Judo Championships The 1990 European Judo Championships were held in Frankfurt, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most ...

in Frankfurt. In 1991, she won the bronze medal at the 1991 World Judo Championships, in Barcelona and the silver medal at the 1991 European Judo Championships in Prague. The year 1992 saw her first of four appearances at the Olympic Games. In the women's 66 kg she reached the semi finals only to lose out to eventual gold medal winner Odalis Revé, however she managed to win the repechage to claim a bronze medal. In 1993, she won her third consecutive (and fourth) British title. Howey continued to participate in most major championships, winning a World championship silver and European championship bronze in 1993 at the heavier weight of 72 kg, and two more bronze medals at the 1994 European Judo Championships and 1995 European Judo Championships. In 1996, Howey was selected for her second Olympic Games reaching the quarter finals were she was defeated by eventual silver medalist Yoko Tanabe of Japan. Howey recorded her best result in 1997 following a drop back down in weight category to 66 kg. At the 1997 World Judo Championships in Paris, she won the gold medal after defeating

Anja von Rekowski Anja von Rekowski (born 13 December 1975 in Celle) is a German former judoka who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics and in the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also kno ...

in the final. Also in 1997 she won another European bronze and was awarded the

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for services to judo. After a seventh European Championships medal and a fifth British title in 1998, she trained at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. In 1999, she was unable to retain her World title but gained compensation with a bronze medal and the following year she won a European silver in May, before she went to her third Olympics. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

she competed in the women's 70 kg and performed superbly reaching the final where she lost out to Sibelis Veranes for the gold medal. In 2001, she won a silver medal at the

2001 World Judo Championships The 2001 World Judo Championships were the 22nd edition of the World Judo Championships, and were held at Olympiahalle in Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of B ...

, in Munich and won her sixth and final British title in 2002. Also in 2002 she was left out of the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

squad in favour of

Samantha Lowe Samantha Lowe (born 20 January 1982) is an English judoka who won a gold medal in the women's under 70 kg event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Career Lowe studied sports science, and trained at the Camberley Judo Club in ...

and would never get the opportunity to take part in a Commonwealth Games. Howey was shocked at her omission and would likely have won gold but Lowe did go on to win gold for England. Her final major appearance was at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, in Athens, where she was honored to bear the

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

at the opening ceremony. She announced her retirement from competition on 27 October 2004, having competed for 16 years. Following her retirement, she continued as a coach (Head Coach 2018) for the

British Judo Association The British Judo Association (BJA) is the governing body for the Olympic Sport of Judo in the United Kingdom. In 2019 there were 35,000 members. The BJA represents the United Kingdom internationally and is a member of the International Judo F ...

, she coached Gemma Gibbons to silver at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, ending her nation's wait for an Olympic medal in the sport that had stretched back to her own silver in 2000. By contrast, having waited 12 years for Olympic medal, only 24 hours later, her now-veteran former teammate,

also won a bronze medal.BBC Sport: "London 2012: Gemma Gibbons, a profile of a judo star", 2 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howey, Kate 1973 births People from Andover, Hampshire Living people English female judoka Judoka at the 1992 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1996 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2000 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic judoka of Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in judo Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in judo Universiade bronze medalists for Great Britain Team Bath athletes Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade