NAME: Gabriella Wood

AGE: 23

EVENT: JUDO (+78kg)

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Debut

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: Silver at 2019 Scottish Open Championships (Glasgow) and 2015 Pan American Junior Open (Argentina), bronze at 2016 Junior PJC Cup (Dominican Republic) and US Junior Olympic International (Dallas, Texas); fifth at 2019 Copa Panamericano (Panama) and seventh at the Celje-Podcetrtek Senior European Cup (Slovenia)

Gabriella Wood begins her trek to the Olympic Games on Monday and will be joined by Scottish father/son coaching team Lee and Cailin Calder.

The 23-year old is TT’s first female judoka to qualify for the Summer Games and only the nation’s second athlete to achieve the feat in this discipline.

On June 23, Wood secured a Tokyo spot via the Olympic ranking continental quota in the Pan American region. She makes her debut on July 30 in the +78kg category at the Nippon Budokan, the “spiritual home” of Japanese martial arts.

The national judoka is currently in Scotland finalising preparations ahead of the meet. There are some nerves, she said, but Wood plans to take it one match at a time. Opponents are tentatively scheduled to be drawn on July 22 or 23.

“The plan was always, going into the Games, to see how it goes and try to win a match. We’re not aiming for a medal. I know a lot of people believe that once you qualify for the Olympics you can get a medal.

“But I don’t think they fully understand the kind of work that actually goes into qualifying for an Olympics, much less medalling,” Wood said.

[caption id="attachment_901212" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Judoka Gabriella Wood (R) grapples with coach Lee Calder during a recent training session, in Scotland, ahead of her debut at the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics. - University of Stirling[/caption]

The Santa Cruz-bred athlete began was introduced to judo at Maria Regina Grade School in Port of Spain but got seriously involved in the sport at St Joseph’s Convent in Port of Spain. She then began training under Mark Littrean at the Queen’s Park Judo Club followed by then-national judo coach Jesus Chavez.

Wood competed at a few local tournaments and then bagged her first major medal with a silver showing at the 2015 Pan American Junior Open in Panama.

The very next year she battled to bronze at the 2016 Junior PJC Cup (Dominican Republic) and US Junior Olympic International (Dallas, Texas). She then earned silver at 2019 Scottish Open Championships (Glasgow).

Looking ahead at the biggest competitive challenge of her still blossoming career, Wood wants to keep clear head.

“I’m still quite young in the sport and I haven’t been on the senior circuit for that long, just about four years. I’m still quite new to it so my take on it (Olympics) is to go out, enjoy the experience, do the best I can and focus on one fight at a time.

“I’m just trying to chill right now. I’ve done the work. I know my sport. It’s just to go out there and do what I do best. I’m looking at it like any other judo trip because if I start to think about it too much I’ll st