Advertisement

Judo queen ready for trial of life

Catherine Arscott has lost count of the number of times she has gone into court looking more like a victim that advocate.

The Australian judo queen, competing in the 70kg class at Glasgow2014, tries to combine a career in law with a passion for martial arts. Occasionally, it has prompted some concerns from the bench.

“When I graduated my first job was to work as an associate to the judge at the Court of Appeal,” said Arscott as she completed final preparations for her first Commonwealth Games fight on Friday.

“And on a Monday night and I was fighting one of my male training partners who was in the 100kg class and he was having trouble with one of the grips I had on his sleeve. He pulled across and all of a sudden my nose ended up over here.

“The problem was the next day we were in full court and my judge was presiding so I had to take care of the criminals and they were asking what ‘what happened to you love’. I just wanted to get them into the dock.”

However, the now qualified solicitor with Bank of Queensland has become the master, or indeed mistress, of disguise.

Arscott’s identical twin sister is an expert in make-up and has been able to counsel on how to hide some of the wounds to avoid raised eyebrows from work colleagues, some of whom are unaware of her sporting pursuit.

“It is actually kind of good because when you get a black eye the blood sinks and it is a nice way of trying new eye shadow,” Arscott said.

“I was at university at the time while also working as a researcher at Freehills, and I kept judo off my CV because I wanted to go there on academic merit, so when I walked in after State titles I had my eye closed over and my face was pretty much deformed.

“I went into work and they didn’t believe I did judo and I had to say, just Google me.”

Duke Didier is following a different sporting path to that of his ruby-playing father Geoff


Arscott’s teammate Duke Didier has been travelling the world in the lead-up to Glasgow 2014 in the hope of emulating his father with sporting success.

Geoff Didier was a renowned prop with the ACT Brumbies and Wallabies. But his son opted for a different athletic discipline and is a strong medal chance in the 100kg judo class at the Commonwealth Games.

“My dad has been a huge inspiration for me. I started judo and after a couple of years juggling a few sports I decided I stick with this sport,” Didier said.

“I’ve come through one of the biggest years of my life in judo. Just before Glasgow I was competing in England, Spain and Korea. I self-funded myself to Bosnia and Hungary earlier this year.

“I’ve come here to fight and get a medal, that’s my plan. Dad is coming over and hopefully I can draw on his accomplishments and make a few of my own.”