Olympic judo hero Gibbons inspires Greenwich to podium

Gibbons, from Charlton, represented her home borough at the London Youth Games in her early years and attended this year’s judo finals at Crystal Palace.

Greenwich’s female team were second in the overall standings after several outstanding performances by borough youngsters, giving the girls their third podium appearance in four years.

The male team also performed creditably, placing fourth overall in the team standings.

Among the individual Greenwich winners was Colfe’s student Georga Halloumas, who won gold in the girls U48kg class.

The 11-year-old said: “It feels really good because when I went into the competition and I saw they were all much bigger than me I thought I would lose and get nothing.”

She also revealed how inspired she was to meet Gibbons.

“It was really good,” added Halloumas.

“I didn’t think I would meet someone from the Olympics, so it makes me want to go to the Olympics.”

Greenwich team manager Richard Anns was more than satisfied with his squad’s success.

He said: “I’m pleased with silver, not as pleased as I would have been with gold.

“We had gold last year but it’s silver this time and we’ll aim for gold again in 2014.

“The difference this year was a couple of injuries, we were up and down and not as consistent but it was good, we had good players. It’s a very long day and the kids have fought brilliantly, they’ve all fought hard so you can’t ask any more from them.”

Anns added: “They love representing their borough because it’s something new for them.

“We get new kids in all the time, they’ve lowered the age limit this year so we get kids that are younger who are doing it, who would have to wait another year.

“Having Gemma Gibbons here was a big inspiration for the kids.

“They all watched her at the Olympics and some of them got her autograph. They loved it.

“She’s a hero to most of them, especially as she comes from Greenwich.

“We’ll be back for gold again next year.

“It’s up and down between Sutton and Greenwich at the moment but we’ll be back.”

Elsewhere, there was another outstanding Greenwich result in the male handball competition as they won gold for the second successive year.

They recovered from an early 4-2 loss to Hackney in the group stages to battle their way through to the final, where they beat Sutton 3-1.

Greenwich’s gold medal winning captain Osman Proni was delighted to secure the title again.

The 15-year-old Woolwich Polytechnic pupil said: “I have been inspired mainly by the school and my PE teacher.

“He inspired me into tournaments and that you can achieve great things in handball.

“There were a few matches that we had to work hard on but it was all about teamwork and a determination to win.

“We are happy very excited that we won at the London Youth Games twice in a row and we retained our trophy.

“It’s a big achievement. We are going next week to the England nationals and we’re hoping to win that.”

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