Judo: Olympics on backburner as Euan Burton has Paris in mind

EDINBURGH judo fighter Euan Burton intends to keep himself firmly grounded on the road towards London 2012, which continues when he represents Great Britain at the World Championships in Paris later this month.

The 32-year-old Scot had climbed up to fourth in the world rankings for the under-81kg half-middleweight division with a string of impressive displays on the International Judo Federation circuit (IJF).

So far 2011 has not seen the same consistency from Burton, who suffered a disappointing early exit at the European Championships in Turkey, where team-mates Colin Oates and Sophie Cox returned with bronze medals.

The Edinburgh judoka, though, will continue to take both the rough with the smooth as he looks to land Olympic gold this time next year in London.

"In comparison to last year, I have not had the great year in terms of results, but judo is that type of sport, sometimes it just does not go your way on the day," Burton said. "I had a string of tournaments where it was podium after podium after podium, so I started to expect that and so did everyone else, then when it does not happen, people start to question where it is all going wrong. But in judo, no-one is invincible and goes unbeaten for very long."

Burton is hopefully of making an impact in Paris, which under IJF rules allows each country to enter two fighters per weight division, making the task twice as tough.

"Even in a negative situation, there are positives which can be taken from them," said Burton, who claimed bronze at both the 2010 European and World Championships, as well as in the prestigious Tokyo Grand Slam.

"I am doing work on styles of fighters which have caused me problems, and I am sure it will stand me in good stead at the World Championships and again next year."

British judo has gone through a complete overhaul since the failures of Beijing, where none of the team made it through to the medal fights. Head coach Patrick Roux is confident there will be genuine chances of success across all the weight divisions, which will see Britain take automatic qualification via their host nation status. Burton admits like all British athletes, he has allowed himself to imagine topping the podium in London.

"Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I have been dreaming about it, then it gives you that feeling of being both excited and nervous," he said.

"However, today I am rarely thinking about it. Most of the time I am just looking how to be a better judo fighter."