By Victoria Klassen
Tony Walby
Judo
Age: 43
Local Club: Takahashi Martial Arts
# Paralympics: Second
Twitter: @JudoWalby
SCHEDULE:
Sat. Sept. 10 men’s 90 kg judo, 9 a.m.
Tony Walby has come close to calling it a career a few times now, but the 43-year-old judoka is headed back to his second Paralympic Games for one primary reason: family.
Family, and the competitive fire that still burns strong. Walby had intended to retire after the London 2012 Paralympics, but his 7th-place finish in the unlimited weight class left him unsatisfied.
“I knew if I wanted to continue to give Rio a shot, I couldn’t do it as a heavyweight,” explains Walby, who was one of the smaller competitors in the men’s 100 kg+ category. “I was carrying around more weight than my body can hold to begin with, and I was getting older.
“So I sat down with my wife and we decided that if I were to continue, I would have to do it in a different weight class. So we started planning for that, and within two months I was down two weight classes and down 80 pounds.”
Walby has been in the sport of judo since he was seven years old, and was on the national able-bodied judo team for 16 years. He’d first contemplated an end to his competitive career when he won his 12th national medal in 2008, but then the door to para-judo opened since his vision had deteriorated significantly in his 30s due to cone dystrophy.
He is also a judo coach at Takahashi Martial Arts who has trained high-performance athletes and Olympians. Walby – one of two Rio 2016 Canadian judokas alongside Priscilla Gagne, who was based in Ottawa for a few years before joining the national team’s center in Montreal – says these will indeed be his last Paralympics.
The bronze medallist from 2016 World Cup events in Germany and Brazil plans to continue coaching after the Games, but first his goal is to come home with a Paralympic medal.
“I’ve spent the last three years fighting in this weight class to qualify for the Games,” notes the men’s 90 kg competitor who’s faced all but one athlete entered for Rio. “I feel my chances are good as long as I go in there with the confidence that I know I can do it, and just have the day of my life.”
Walby says that five years ago his motivation was to win, but that has since changed.
“Now, my big motivation is actually my children,” underlines the father of two. “I want them to see me succeed, so if they see me succeed, they know and believe they can succeed.”
Amongst a healthy Walby family cheering section will be his four-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. One of Walby’s favorite memories was seeing his daughter – at the time only four months old – in the stands at London 2012.
“My wife has been so supportive the last six years, since I’ve come back on the national circuit,” adds Walby, a computer engineer for Correction Services Canada. “She’s had to make some tremendous sacrifices, and especially in the last four and a half years with kids and that.
“I’m off at training every night, she has to be the one to put them to bed, the one to carry most of the load. And because I’m visually impaired, I can’t drive, so she’s also the taxi driver; she drives me to training every night. Without her I couldn’t be on this journey.”
Sunday mornings are a favorite time for Walby because he gets to spend time with his family while doing judo. His children put on little judo gees, run around and follow some of his group’s conditioning warmup.
“That 20 minutes of the week is actually the part that refuels me for the week,” Walby signals. “I just fall in love with the sport all over again, every Sunday morning that I’m on the mat with my kids.”
Advice for young athletes aspiring to reach the Games:
“Never give up. I’m 43, going to my second Games. And I’ve had a 20-year career on the national team, I’ve had times when I was down, times when I was up. Persistence. Never give up, keep pushing. If you want it bad enough, it’s going to happen.”