McKENZIE Ashley

Preferred techniques
Tai-otoshi (IJF, 17 Jul 2016)

General
FUTURE PLANS
He says he plans to take a period away from the sport following the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo to spend time with his daughter and on his business interests. "After Tokyo I will take six months off Judo just to think about my life and know what I want to do. I have a precious little daughter that I still have to think about and I'd like to spend more time with her and make some money. I have a little bit in place so I'm not that scared about life after Judo. I'm in a good position. TV is also an avenue I could go down after the Olympics." (ashleymckenzie.co.uk, 01 Jan 2013; Judo YouTube channel, 23 Mar 2020; judoinside.com, 02 Mar 2020)

POSITIVE EFFECT
He believes judo has had a positive impact on his life. As a child he regularly got in trouble, had been arrested, and was expelled from a number of schools. He was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] at age 11 and spent time at a school for children with behavioural problems, and six months in a psychiatric unit on the agreement of his mother. After joining Moberly Judo Club in London, England, he says the sport began to calm him down. "With my past, and the fact I wasn't the best behaved of kids, I would have been in trouble with the police and in some sort of detention centre or institution but for sport. I never misbehaved when I was at judo. And as I got into my teens, judo played a big part in gradually calming me down. When I started to get really good at it, judo gave me a focus for all my energy and anger. Throughout my teenage years my mum would say, 'If you behave for me all week, you can go to judo'. And that was enough to keep me on the right tracks." (mirror.co.uk, 25 May 2015; thesun.co.uk, 25 Jul 2012; bbc.co.uk, 20 Jul 2012)

HEALTH CONCERNS
He was born with a hole in his heart and required surgery at 18 months old. He has also suffered from asthma, eczema, impaired hearing and epilepsy, and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] at age 11. (thisislincolnshire.co.uk, 12 Dec 2011; rio2016.com, 07 Mar 2016; Judo YouTube channel, 23 Mar 2020; mirror.co.uk, 25 May 2015)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
He is a self-funded athlete and earns money through sponsorship, television appearances and a range of businesses, including a clothing label, property portfolio, and running judo masterclasses. In 2012 he participated in the British television series 'Celebrity Big Brother', and was also the subject of a British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] documentary called 'The Bad Boy Olympian'. He has also featured in reality shows 'Ex on the Beach', in 2020, and 'Eating With My Ex'. (gq-magazine.co.uk, 10 Mar 2020; realitytitbit.com, 01 Jan 2020; Judo YouTube channel, 23 Mar 2020; Facebook page, 16 Jun 2016; telegraph.co.uk, 25 Jul 2014; BBC Three YouTube channel, 08 Mar 2021)