• Submitted by: manso
• Sports
• 01 / 07 / 2011

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The British Open taekwondo champion will train in Cuba as he steps up his campaign for London 2012.Interview by Beth Shah. guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 January 2011 18.43 GMT. Tony Grisman, who won the British Open last September, is aiming for more success at next year's Olympics. Photograph: Tony  Marshall/Empics Progress towards 2012.

"Last September I won the British Open and I would have to say that was one of my best days as I beat the world champion in the final and the world silver medallist in the quarters.

"Now I compete six times a year in different tournaments and train six days a week for them. This weekend I am flying out to Cuba for two weeks for a training camp starting on 9 January where we have got a Cuban coach for about 10 of us. He will be the one training us, with the sessions mainly consisting of sparring.

"After training camp in Cuba I will be going to the US Open in February, which takes place in Texas, and then at the beginning of May I have the World Championships.

"In the past I have had some injuries such as a couple of broken fingers and a broken kneecap, but luckily I haven't had any injuries for a while now.

"There is a good chance that I can make the team for the 2012 Olympics but it will be decided after the World Championships. What happens is out of four different weight categories only two are chosen, with a contestant entered for each."

Training

"At the moment I train up in Manchester six times a week, twice a day. Every morning I do about two and a half hours of taekwondo, and that tends to mostly be kicking and sparring. Then in the afternoon I do weights or cardio work; however, at the moment we are doing a lot more taekwondo a day.

"I like to eat well as it is but to make sure I fit into the -68kg category I have to lose a little weight, usually about 3kg. To do this I just cut my portion sizes down about a week and a half before the weigh-in. For example I'll just have one Weetabix in the morning, no sugar in my tea, just stuff like that."

Biography

Born: 16 July 1985

Educated: Sherwood Hall School, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire

Outside of taekwondo I like... Watching football and I support Manchester City. I enjoy fishing in the summer, socialising and just going out with my mates.

Favourite band/artist: Kings of Leon

Favourite film: Man on Fire

Favourite book: Michael Watson's Story: The Biggest Fight

If you hadn't been a sportsman: A joiner on a building site as I used to do that before I got into taekwondo seriously

Key statistics

British Open 2010 - Gold

British National Championships 2009 – Gold

Belgian Open 2009 – Bronze

Korean Open 2009 – Silver

British Open 2008 – Gold

Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships 2008 – Silver

Austrian Open 2008 – Silver

Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships 2006 – Gold

Olympic Countdown:

US Open – February 2011

German Open – March 2011

Taekwondo World Championships – May

The world championships are a major competition so after that there will most likely be a clamp on other tournaments leading up to the 2012 Olympics.

2012 Venue

The ExCel Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, London


Source: www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jan/06/tony-grisman-olympics-2012