Lisa Kearney (born 27 May 1989) is a Northern Irish retired judoka, who competed in the −48 kg category. Kearney, who lives and trains in Belfast, competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as a member of the Ireland Olympic team.

Career

Kearney started judo at primary school in order to join her friends. Whilst still a child in 1999, she won silver in the −27 kg category of the Northern Ireland Judo Championships. In 2009, she became the first judoka representing Ireland to reach the final of a Judo World Cup. In 2012, she recovered from injury earned qualification for the Women's −48 kg judo at the 2012 Olympic Games in London by finishing in the top 14 in the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

rankings. In doing so, she became the first female judoka representing Ireland to compete at the Olympics. However, she lost her opening match to Wu Shegun of China. The national Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann was criticised for not featuring her match in their television coverage. During 2013, she missed several events due to injury but got back into competing in preparation for 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 ...

. In 2014, Kearney represented

Northern Ireland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23 to August 3, 2014. Medalists Athletics ;Men ;Track & road events ;Field Events ;Combined events – Athletics at the 2014 Commonwealth Games – ...

in the Women's −52 kg category and won the bronze medal with an

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that Anatomical terms of motion#General motion, hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow, elbow joint or glenohumeral joint, shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the ...

submission of Canada's Audrée Francis-Méthot, which was also Northern Ireland's first medal of the games. She had aimed to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics but suffered a knee injury which ruled her out of the Olympics as she was unable to take part in the qualification tournaments. She stepped out under the advice of the Sports Institute for Northern Ireland who oversaw her rehabilitation. In 2017, she announced her retirement from competitive judo. Kearney had won four World Cup gold medals.

Personal life

Kearney was born on 27 May 1989 in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. She studied psychology as a student at Heriot-Watt University in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Scotland.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kearney, Lisa 1989 births Living people Female judoka from Northern Ireland Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of Ireland Sportspeople from Belfast Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games medallists in judo Judoka at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games