Karina Bryant was born on 27 January 1979 and is a British retired elite judoka, who was active in elite senior competition in the 2000s and early 2010s.
15 Facts About Karina Bryant
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Karina Bryant represented Great Britain at four successive Olympics between 2000 and 2012, winning her first Olympic medal, a bronze, in the heavyweight event at her final Games, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
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Karina Bryant was a seven-time medallist at both the European Judo Championships and the World Judo Championships, and was European Champion on four occasions.
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Karina Bryant competed for Kingston in the London Youth Games.
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Karina Bryant won a further Junior World title in 1998, and won the European title for the first time in that same year.
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Karina Bryant made her first Olympic appearance at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.
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Karina Bryant was selected twice more for Great Britain at the Olympics in 2004 in Athens, and in 2008 in Beijing.
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Karina Bryant reached the quarter-finals in 2004, but did not make it through the repechage round, and only reached the round of 16 once more in 2008.
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Karina Bryant suffered an injury to her neck in 2011 and was unable to train for six months, but she took part in an intensive month of training during 2012 to restore her fitness levels.
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Karina Bryant had been funded by the National Lottery so that she could train for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but found it financially difficult to do so.
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Karina Bryant competed at the 2012 European Championships and qualified out of the pool stage, but was beaten by Russian Elena Ivashchenko.
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Karina Bryant won the following repechage round to claim the bronze medal at the tournament, her seventh medal at the European stage.
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On 26 June 2012, Karina Bryant was confirmed a competitor with the rest of the British judoka squad.
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Karina Bryant's opponent scored a yuko on her, but Bryant took another waza-ari, which combined with the first gave her an ippon, the victory in the bout and the bronze medal.
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Karina Bryant dedicated her medal to the rest of the British judo squad.