Sam Ingram is the most decorated athlete on the British Judo Paralympic programme and the two-time medallist is aiming to make it three as he heads the Great Britain 2016 team in Brazil.
It is former Loughborough College student Sam’s third consecutive Games after he claimed the -90kg class bronze in Beijing and secured silver in London in the only martial art in the Paralympics.
“My experiences in London have really spurred me on to Rio and I’ve been working incredibly hard to ensure that I can give it everything when I go to compete,” said Sam, who trains alongside some of GB’s top Olympic judoka.
Sam was inspired to take up judo in his early twenties by his brother Joe (who also competed at London 2012) and burst onto the international scene at the 2007 European Championships in Belgrade.
In 2015 Sam competed in the IBSA European Judo Championships in Portugal and secured a bronze medal with a win against Russia’s Vladimir Fedin in the third spot decider.
Judo at the Paralympics is for athletes with visual impairments. Both Sam and Joe were born with the genetic eye condition corneal dystrophy, meaning they cannot see in colour and have no central vision.