DRYSDALE DALEY Ebony

General
REPRESENTING JAMAICA
She represented Great Britain in judo earlier in her career before switching to compete for Jamaica in 2019. "I share a dual heritage. I am British-born but I also have Jamaican citizenship. Both pairs of my grandparents and my dad are Jamaican-born. That biology and culture has always and will always live in me. Ultimately, it was never meant to be [for her to compete at the Olympic Games with Great Britain], because there was already more than one person ahead of me. Sally [Conway] already got Olympic bronze [in the 70kg at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro]. Most of my life I've always been doing judo, it is a desire to go to the Olympics." (ijf.org, 26 Jun 2021; buzz-caribbean.com, 24 Jun 2021; judoinside.com, 20 Nov 2020; Original Judo Podcast, 12 Jun 2020)

OLYMPIC INSPIRATION
She set her sights on competing at the Olympic Games after watching judo matches at the 2012 Games in London. "I had the privilege of being able to watch some of the preliminary rounds of the woman's 52kg and men's 66kg categories at the London Games. I was right there in the stadium. I sat in the stands and watched a player get to the quarterfinals. I watched Gemma Gibbons win silver and I saw Karina Bryant's bronze at home. Inspirational!" (ijf.org, 26 Jun 2021)

She became the first female judoka representing Jamaica to win gold at the Commonwealth championships by placing first in the 70kg category at the 2019 edition of the tournament in Birmingham, England. (jamaicans.com, 02 Nov 2019; ijf.org, 27 Sep 2019)