TOKYO, Japan — It all came down to the final in the 100kg B2 division of Judo, where Ben Goodrich would take on his rival Great Britain’s Christopher Skelley Sunday evening after going through the competition like a hot knife through butter at Tokyo 2020’s Nippon Budokan.
“It’s bittersweet. I’ve beaten Skelley before. He’s a tough match, he’s a good guy. We brawl a lot,” said Goodrich following the match.
Goodrich benefited from a bye in the round of 16 and went on to defeat Russia’s Anatolii Shevchenko and Brazil’s Antonio Tenorio Da Silva in the semifinals on his way to becoming a Paralympic silver medalist, just falling short in WAZ form to the opponent Skelley. Goodrich was able to grab his first ever-medal in the process.
Said Goodrich of his winnig Silver:
“I’m happy with the result compared to my first entrance to the Paralympics in 2016. Second is a whole lot of improvement from ninth… Hopefully if I’m around again in Paris (2024) we can improve on that and get some gold coming our way.”
Goodrich, a two-time grew massively over the course of the Tokyo 2020 games following his ninth-place finish at the Rio 2016 Games. Goodrich has been competing in Judo since his first appearance at the IBSA World Youth and Student Games in 2013.
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