Judo: wee Jack cheers on mum

Amid the crowd noise of the Sydney Exhibition Hall, one tiny voice stood out for New Zealand judo player Fiona Iredale -- that of her four-year-old son Jack.

``Go Mum,'' he shouted before her first bout of the Olympic Games and she obliged. Iredale, fighting in the over 78kg division, polished off Panama's Estela Riley in 46 seconds with an ippon, or full point, victory after flooring her opponent with a twisting leg throw.

Iredale, who immigrated from Scotland four years ago, did not hear Paul's voice again in the hubbub and intense atmosphere of competition. She lost her next two bouts and exited the Games.

In her second match Iredale was drawn against China's Yuan Hua, silver medallist at last year's world championships. Although shorter and lighter than Iredale, Yuan scored an ippon in 35 seconds after almost effortlessly hoisting her over her shoulder and on to the mat.

``The Chinese girl had two fights - one against Fiona and the other against a Brazilian - and took both of them apart. She's very classy,'' New Zealand judo manager Brent Cooper said.

The loss put Iredale in a repechage, where she was confident of her chances against Priscila Marques of Brazil. However, after Iredale had the better of Marques in their early exchanges she was caught cold with a half-point (waza-ari) throw, before Marques earned the other half point to win by pinning her on her back.

``I thought I pretty much had her for most of the fight,'' Iredale said afterwards.

``I hadn't scored but I just got tired and let her do what she wanted to do, instead of what I wanted her to do and she threw me.''

Marques had also proved Iredale's nemesis at last year's world championships.

The Waikato Polytechnic sports science lecturer said she would now reassess her future in international judo as Jack and her husband Paul ``get a bit neglected in the process sometimes''.

Paul Iredale is a judo referee and Jack has already started playing the sport, at Metro Judo Club in Hamilton.

``So he gets involved and he's always up in the stand, shouting `Do an ippon Mummy', or if I'm losing he usually shouts `Get off my Mummy','' Iredale said.

``Here they were pretty much all adult voices in the crowd, and there was one little kid's voice shouting `Go Mum' before the first fight.''

- NZPA