Crawley judo addict gains one of highest belts aged 90

Michael Leigh, from Crawley, has gained his red belt after practicing judo for almost 70 years.

Michael has been “obsessed” with judo since he first walked into a dojo aged 22, and quickly rose up the ranks to join the GB squad and compete at a national level and above from the age of 26 for 33 years.

He last competed in 2003, shortly before turning 70.

The nonagenarian’s accolades leading up to the ninth dan include representing England and Great Britain in the Olympic middleweight judo reserve for the 1964 Tokyo games.

Michael Leigh with his 9th dan certificate and red belt (Image: SWNS)

A ninth dan is the second highest level that can be achieved in judo and is often given after consideration of the person’s lifelong accomplishments.

On several occasions during his later fighting years he was the British Veterans Champion.

He first discovered the sport while working in the Royal Air Force, when he stumbled upon a judo book in a charity shop by Eric Domini, then co-founder of the London Judo Society (LJS), and decided to start a beginners course, two days after he left the airforce.

He was “bitten by the bug” during the eight week course and began training five days a week, before eventually ramping up to eight sessions a week.

During his career he was a chair of British Judo, an international referee, a national coach, a European Judo Union Olympic Solidarity Coach and an international Kata judge.

He also founded classes for people with special needs, created the kata competition, an under-eight category, and set up the entire veterans division that runs in five-year sections from the over-35s right up to the over-90s.

His daughter, Stephanie Leigh, said judo "is like a stick of rock" all the way through him.

Michael with his daughter Stephanie after she gained her black belt (Image: SWNS)

"We’d go on holiday to Devon or the Lake District and the first thing he'd put in his car was his judo suit, he’d go and train every single day of the holiday,” she said.

"Mum and him even met in a judo club. If he hadn't met a women in the judo club he wouldn't have met one, because that’s all he did from the age of 22.

"Despite his age he's gone back on the mat occasionally. You watch him walk onto the judo mat and its like it invigorates him. That is his happy place.

"He’s got issues that make it difficult even to get the judo kit on but it was amazing to see him get on the mat."

When Michael started out the once busy but now-defunct LJS was used to train Metropolitan Police officers, taxi drivers and civil servants.

Michael demonstrating a judo move (Image: SWNS)

He lived and worked in Crawley and started training in the town where there were only two clubs that “didn’t get on”.

In 1976 Michael left his supervisor job in an industrial diamond tool factory to set up Mid Sussex Judo Club in Haywards Heath, to avoid inter-club rivalry in Crawley.

The club trained judo, wrestling, weightlifting, karate, the iaido art of the sword, kendo which uses bamboo swords, and moved to several locations, settling near the Brighton seafront.

In 1976 he left the Mid Sussex Judo Club in Brighton and set up the Kin Ryu Judo Club in Crawley, which he handed over 15 years ago.

Michael was crowned British Veteran Champion in 1982 (Image: SWNS)

During that time Michael moved from an amateur judo fighter to a professional teacher.

Heavyweight judo British Open Champion Bob Bradley, who held the title for 13 years, used to travel to Sussex from Margate, Kent just to train with Michael.

There were other clubs near Kent, but Bob made the over-80-mile journey just for Michael.

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Michael with Olympic bronze medalist Brian Jacks. Michael was Brian's first coach when he was ten (Image: SWNS)

Bob, who passed away in 2014, was simultaneously the British Greco Roman Heavyweight Champion, British Olympic freestyle wrestling heavyweight champion, and the British Sambo heavyweight wrestling champion of Britain.

Michael said judo's disciplined “way of life” appealed to him.

“They have a code of ethics, I’ve not come across it in any other sport,”he said.

“It’s a way of life, it’s a sport, it’s self-defence, it’s social. It’s got everything.

“I’ve not trained in quite a while because I’ve got two artificial knees, the knees are very limiting. I have to be careful because of my age.

“I’ve competed for 33 years, so as result I’ve got problems with my hands because you need to grip to fight, you can’t throw someone unless you’ve got a grip - small stress injuries become more important as you get older.

Michael and the London team club at the Albert Hall in London in 1958 (Image: SWNS)

“I’m tempted to go to on the mat but until my current disabilities go away I don’t think I’ll be able to. I miss it very much, but everything has a beginning, middle and end.”

Another major draw for Michael is the sport’s “mecca”, the Kodokan in central Tokyo, Japan, set up in 1958.

Another is travel, with his career taking him to 60 countries.

He said he still wants to visit Nepal, and Mongolia because of its wrestling style where fighters wear high boots in open air, and are graded by animals instead of colours.