Craig Patrick Fallon (18 December 1982 – 15 July 2019) was a British World Champion

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Career

His first main coach was Bill Kelly. Fallon later competed with his coach Fitzroy Davis. In 2002, he won the gold medal in the under 60kg category at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

in Manchester. In September 2005, Fallon won the -60 kg weight class at the World Judo Championships in Cairo, beating

Ludwig Paischer Ludwig Paischer (born 28 November 1981 in Oberndorf bei Salzburg) is an Austrian judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本 ...

in the final. He became only the third British male to win a world title, following Neil Adams in 1981 and Graeme Randall in 1999. The following year in 2006, he went on to become European champion in Tampere, Finland in the -60 kg weight category beating

Armen Nazaryan Armen Nazaryan ( hy, Արմեն Նազարյան, bg, Армен Назарян, born 9 March 1974) is an Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler who later represented Bulgaria. Nazaryan is a two-time Olympic Champion (1996, 2000), a three-time World C ...

in the final. He is only the second male British judoka besides Neil Adams to simultaneously hold both a World and European title. On 22 September 2007, Fallon went on to win The 2007 Men's World Cup in the -60 kg at the NIA Arena in Birmingham, he was the only Brit to win a medal at the Olympic ranking event. In 2011 Fallon won his third title 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 ...

, having previously won in 2002 and 2008. In 2012, the former Wolverhampton Judo Club ace was inducted into the Wolverhampton Sporting Hall of Fame. In 2017, Fallon signed a contract as head coach of the Federal Judo Association of Vorarlberg,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 2019, Fallon made the move to Welsh Judo Association to become Head of Coaching.

Death

Fallon died on 15 July 2019. His body was found at the Wrekin, a beauty spot near Wellington in Shropshire. No cause of death was given. The coroner at the inquest judged that Fallon had died by suicide.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fallon, Craig 1982 births 2019 deaths 2019 suicides English male judoka Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for Great Britain Sportspeople from Ipswich Place of death missing Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Judoka at the 2002 Commonwealth Games World judo champions Commonwealth Games medallists in judo Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games