COVENTRY’S Team GB judo star Chelsie Giles insists she will “go for gold” at next week’s European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The Coventry judoka memorably won Britain’s first medal at Tokyo 2020 after claiming bronze in Japan having previously won a European bronze medal in 2019.
And Giles has kicked on from her Olympic success with one gold and three silver’s on the International Judo Federation (IJF) World Tour last year.
Giles hopes to better the bronze medal achieved at the 2019 European Championships and now has more belief and a stronger mindset to compete for gold.
Giles said: “The aim is always to go for gold, I just want to take each fight as it comes, plan ahead and hopefully on the day everything goes to plan.
“The main thing that has changed is my belief in what I can do, my coaches have always believed in me and I’ve always had good people to train with.
“It was about putting what I’d practiced into action, the mindset was the big game changer for me.
“The more years I’ve been doing this, I’ve gained experience, I don’t go into competitions with as many nerves now, I can use the adrenaline to my benefit.
“I think having more experience than some of the others behind me gives me a little bit more preparation.”
The 25-year-old also spoke about her affection for the city of Coventry which will host the judo event at this summer’s Commonwealth Games.
Giles added: “I like Coventry, my judo club is from Coventry and it was really good growing up there.
“When I came back from the Olympic Games, I really felt the love for sport from the city, the fact people get behind it so much draws the best performances out of the athletes.
“Judo will be held in Coventry for the Commonwealth Games, having that home crowd there and knowing Coventry is so behind sport is a really good feeling.
“A lot of people tell me to enjoy the journey, I don’t want to finish judo and not have made the most of this amazing experience.
“Now it’s about training as hard as I can but also enjoying it every step of the way.”
The Senior European Championships take place in Sofia, Bulgaria from Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May 1.
