Clark's new gold dreams

AN INABILITY to get a proper night's sleep hasn't stopped Sarah Clark dreaming of Olympic success. The Edinburgh-based judo star is one of Team GB's medal hopes for Beijing and while others will be troubled by fitful nights tossing and turning in the days leading up to their big moment, such disrupted sleep patterns are nothing unusual for the 30-year-old.

A fidget, who her coach Billy Cusack claims finds it impossible to sit still long enough to watch a movie from beginning to end, she can't even switch off at night. "I find it really difficult to get to sleep and I wake up four, five, maybe even six times a night and when I do sleep I have really vivid dreams, so vivid I'm not even sure if I was dreaming or if I was awake."

A true competitor, since the disappointment of not medalling or even performing as well as she expected at the Athens games, she has also become a real stickler for fine-tuning all aspects of her life in a bid to give her that extra edge in Beijing. From nutrition to organisation, sports psychology and finely honed strength and conditioning work, she has left nothing to chance – so when concerns were raised that a lack of sleep may be detrimental to her performance levels she enlisted the help of the Scottish Institute of Sport.

"They gave me a sleep watch, which just straps on your wrist like a digital watch but it records your movements in the night to see when you wake up to see if there is a pattern. I have been given advice on things I shouldn't drink at night, things to do to help me switch off before going to bed, but it's difficult because we train until late most nights and that goes through my mind when I am lying there trying to sleep.

"I have even been to the sleep centre where they had me wired up with wires all over my body and head so they could monitor me while I was asleep, and I am due to go back for more tests but I am away so much just now or trying to fit in everything I need to do before the Olympics, it might have to wait until I get back from Beijing now."

By then, she will hopefully be more contented, having fulfilled her lifelong ambition of winning an Olympic medal. If she performs to her capabilities, there is no reason why not, according to Cusack, who, as well as running the successful Edinburgh Club which boasts Clark as well as Olympic team-mate Euan Barton and reserve James Millar, is also the GB performance coach.

She is tall and rangy, as well as left-handed, and her coach jokes that people with those natural attributes shouldn't be allowed to compete as they have too much of an advantage – but her real asset is her mindset. Technically one of the best women judo players in the world, she has also built up the muscle-mass with gruelling weight sessions and is a feisty competitor, albeit one who beats herself up as much as she beats her opponents.

A perfectionist, she analyses every throw she makes even in training, each move is reviewed as soon as it has been performed. The look in her eye betrays her determination to be the best. "That's something the two of us have spoken about before, isn't it?" says Clark to Cusack. "Whether that's something you are born with or something that you can learn, but I think I've always had that in me."

Since taking up judo at the age of nine, there was a period when Clark, who grew up in South Shields, was the only girl at her club. Soon, even the number of boys dwindled as one after the other they were floored by Clark, the praise bestowed on her simply salt in their wounds. They left never to return. She didn't care. At 18 she travelled to Edinburgh for some judo training and never left. Impressed by the quality of her training partners and the camaraderie and professionalism, she says she has benefited from the environment.

"It has always been about judo. At school I worked hard but still did judo as well as my homework, then when I went to college the balance changed. It was more judo and I fitted my studying around that which is hard to do, so when I came to Edinburgh I decided to concentrate on the judo. I did go back to university later and although I did OK, I would have done better if I hadn't put my judo first. But that has been my priority. Not just for the past 12 years. If I'm being honest it was probably for a long time before that."

Earlier, as we tried to schedule the interview, she had talked about having to check her diary before laughing. "That makes it sound like I've got lots going on but it's just judo and physio!" She's not joking. The is a full-time commitment. Back late on Thursday night following a trip training and competing in Germany, by the time we meet, late on Friday afternoon, she has already had morning training and is halfway through a one-on-one duelling session with club-mate and Olympic reserve Millar. There is no let-up in the evening either. And this, she informs me later, is her tapering off for China.

Two decades of cultivating the skills and desire, and this is her big chance. She has already experienced winning the European Championships, but this is the big one. "People say it's about the Europeans, the Worlds and the Olympics but it's not. For me, it's about winning an Olympic medal. That's the one that really matters to me, that's the one that's special. After Athens I was so disappointed. I didn't do as well as I knew I could so I don't want those regrets this time."

At the Edinburgh Club it's about giving their best performance, confident that, more often than not, it will be good enough. But Clark is adamant. "Yeah, maybe most of the time that's the case," she says. "But when it comes to an Olympic medal, I would be happy even if I had been crap, if somehow I still got the gold medal.

"No-one remembers silver. I just have to try to treat it like any other competition. Ignore all else and focus on winning one fight, then the next." For Clark, the dream is as vivid as ever.