The Secret Judoka is a new feature series on the IJF website. This series will reveal never before told stories as we share the human element of the sport with first-hand and open accounts from different figures in the sport.

The identity of the judoka will change with every edition and will not be revealed but you are free to speculate.

The only thing I could find that I would even want to watch was the Lion King - I ended up winning the event the next day When the IJF changed the weigh-ins to the night before I found myself staying up late after weigh-ins. By the time you were weighed in, ate, showered, and felt normal again it was late. I always found myself in my room the night before a competition watching a film and by the time it ended it would be 12:30-1:30 in the morning and I would have to wake up the next morning and compete all day. It wasn’t the best scenario for winning. I didn’t stay up because I wanted to I just couldn’t sleep. Even when I would try I would just toss and turn. After a few events I thought it was the weight cut keeping me up. I tried to take some medications to help me sleep but they left me feeling weak in the morning. Almost like sleeping on a flight and waking up after a few hours. That type of rest just isn’t the same. It was the night before weigh-ins and I remember waking up after closing my computer just to watch one more episode of something because I was curious, what was going to happen next. After weigh-ins I remember thinking I didn’t want that to happen again so I dug through the archive in my folder of movies and tv shows. The only thing I could find that was under an hour and a half that I would even want to watch was Aladdin and the Lion King. I ended up winning the event the next day after having a good night's rest. It started a trend where I always traveled and watched Disney and Pixar films on trips before competitions.