Raymond Stevens (born 26 July 1963 in

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

) is a male retired

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"). ...

from the United Kingdom.

Judo career

Stevens started learning Judo at the age of ten and gained a black belt in Judo at the age of 16. He was twice a champion of Great Britain, winning the middleweight division at the

British Judo Championships The British Judo Championships are held annually and feature various age and weight categories to determine the British champion. The Championships are currently held at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Until 2013, the Championships wer ...

in 1984 and 1986. In 1986, he won the gold medal in the 86 kg weight category at the judo demonstration sport event as part of the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...

. Stevens competed in two consecutive

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, starting in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, when he won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the men's half heavyweight division (95 kg), in the final he was defeated by

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Antal Kovács Antal Kovács (born 28 May 1972 in Paks, Tolna) is a Hungarian judoka. He was elected Hungarian Sportsman of The Year in 1993 for winning a gold medal at that year's World Judo Championships The World Judo Championships are the highest l ...

. He represented

England at the 1990 Commonwealth Games England competed at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, between 24 January and 3 February 1990. England finished second in the medal table. Medal table (top three) The athletes that competed are listed below. Athletics ...

and won a gold medal in the 95 kg half-heavyweight category of the judo event in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He holds the rank of 7th Dan in Judo awarded to him on 10 September 2015 and is the Vice Chairman of 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 ...

London Area. and in 2008 he was the first person to receive a black belt in

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

from

Roger Gracie Roger Gracie (born Roger Gracie Gomes; 26 September, 1981) is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist and former professional Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) competitor. The son of coral belt Mauricio Gomes and grandson of BJJ founder Carlos Gracie, ...

, he subsequently received his 2nd Dan in 2015. He opened his own purpose built Dojo in September 2017 in South London;Ray Stevens Academy
/ref> located in Merton, the academy provides martial arts tuition for kids and adults in judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, no-gi, wrestling and kickboxing.

References

External links

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British Olympic Committee
(dead link) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Raymond English male judoka Judoka at the 1992 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic judoka for Great Britain 1963 births Living people People from Camberley Olympic medalists in judo English practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in judo Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Judoka at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games