It is the way her eyes light up as she utters the word ‘fight’ that grabs the attention.
Jemima Yates Brown is a demure, softly spoken 21-year-old with a look that says butter wouldn’t melt. Away from the Dojo maybe, in it, no chance.
Jemima is a pocket rocket who loves the fight and is taking the Judo world by storm.
“I don’t ever think that I’m that good. I do Judo because I enjoy it,” she explained.
“It is not about getting medals or doing well. I do judo because I like fighting, I like training, I don’t see it as a job.
“It is more something that I love doing and I’m lucky enough that I get paid to do it.”
Jemima is wonderful company. As she talks about her love for Judo there is a glint and excitement she can’t hide when she talks about her love for the physical combat.
Rising Star
Yet despite her obvious love for the sport she remains incredibly humble and almost apologetic when it comes to describing her success or status as one of British Judo’s rising stars.
Talking to Onside PR as part of PharmaNutricals ‘PN Meets’ series she is almost dismissive of her obvious talent – but there is no hiding of her love for the sport.
She added: “I was a gymnast before but my coaches told me I wasn’t good enough at the sport. My sister did Judo but my Mum tried to keep us separate so we were good at different things but I always want to do what my sister did so I went onto judo and 
hopefully I’m better than here.
“My sister did it for a bit but she doesn’t now. My Mum finds it difficult to watch because she gets so nervous. She flew to Miami for the Junior Worlds last year but she hide in the toilets all day!”
Yet do not be fooled by Jemima’s modest approach. She is highly regarded within the Judo world and already has a CV that most would envy.
British Junior Champion in 2014, World Judo Bronze and Bronze medalist at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2012 – even though a few days before she was running around Centre Parks enjoining holiday with her family.
Commonwealth
She explained:”I was on holiday in Centre Parks and I got a call that morning asking if I would like to fight in the Commonwealth Games because someone had got injured.
“I had to quickly pack my bags, fly up to Scotland, then fought, win my medal, come back and prepare for a tournament in Germany a few days later.
“One minute I was playing Laser Quest with my family, the next minute I was at the Commonwealth Games but it was alright as I didn’t have time to get nervous as I didn’t know I was meant to be fighting.
“I didn’t even know they had a reserve list , they said I was the first reserve but obviously they don’t really talk about it.
“I’d been given a week off from my coach because I’d just got back from Poland to home, then to Centre Parks and then up to Glasgow for a few days!
“I had seen all the other team members had done well so that spurred me on to try to do well myself and I’d been preparing for a lot off tournaments anyway, obviously not the Commonwealths but there was a tournament in Poland, then Germany and leading up to the Europeans and World Juniors so I was kind of already in competition season so it was just another bonus really.
“I like fighting anyway. Any competition I want to do well in so it didn’t really phase me that it was a big one. It was good because I didn’t really have time to think how big it was or how I would be fighting, I just went up and done it.”
Jemima, who fights in the 63kg class, hails from Tonbridge and Malling but now lives in Walsall as part of the British Judo squad preparing for the Olympics in Rio and beyond.
Olympic
Rio is perhaps a step too early for the young Judo star after a frustrating 2015 which was hampered by injuries but Tokyo and the 2020 Olympic Games is very much on her horizon.
She added: “I got Bronze at Junior World Champions and the start of this year was going OK, I got a world Cup medal in Austria and a few junior European Cup medals but in August 2015 I tore a ligament in my knee so I missed out on the Junior Europeans and Worlds again.
“I feel like I have done enough Junior tournaments anyway to go into the Seniors with enough experience, not just to make up the numbers hopefully.
“I was injured here, training at the Centre of Excellence on camp, the same day I was selected for the Junior Europeans. I felt something ping in my knee and I knew it wasn’t right whilst I was training.
“We were preparing the Seniors for the World Championships and I felt my knee snap basically. It was devastating. I have hurt my knees before and I know what the feeling is like when you do something bad and I knew it was something pretty much similar or worse.”
Now Jemima is very much a senior and faced with stepping up to bigger, stronger more experienced girls but she appears to be doing alright having already secured Gold at the Scottish Open in January and a Bronze at the Senior World Cup in Austria.
Experience
She added: “This is my first real-time as a senior. I’ve done a few before, some for experience, some to see how I would get on and I’ve done alright in a few, some not so well because they are stronger but I feel as though I’m not starting from scratch.
“The biggest difference is they are more tactically better. They use their brains a lot more. I din;’t really use my brain. I just go out and fight so I have got to think a lot more when I fight seniors.
“I think Rio is definitely too soon, I’ve just come out of Juniors and haven’t done any senior qualifying events so Tokyo is more realistic and I would be hoping to get a medal rather than make up the numbers.”
Jemima and the British Judo squad are backed by PharmaNutricals, the UK’s fastest growing brand of sport nutrition supplements.
She believes the PharmaNutricals range of products will give her and her team mates the edge of on other nations and insists the peace of mind of using products endorsed by Informed Sport mean she can concentrate on her job.
She added: “I have one shake fate weights or after a hard session and my strength and conditioning coach tries to get me to take it on on after any hard sessions.
“We are really lucky here as we have a nutritionist that comes in once or twice a week, then we have SEE coaches who are switched on with all that sort of stuff. It is hard to remember it but it is part of recovery and to get you to be the best it is something you have to do.”
And as for those that say Judo is not a sport for young women?
“I think you should come down here and have a role with the girls!,” Jemima told PharmaNutricals, official nutrition partner to British Judo.
Gentleman, ladies, you have been warned!
