Oak Bay’s Tristan Alexander knows his strength.
The recently turned 15-year-old is 6-foot-6 and 270 pounds, and he has a lot of it.
Unfortunately, Alexander was not aware he needed to limit it while competing over the weekend at the eighth annual Edmonton International Judo tournament.
Alexander was disqualified when he submitted his opponent with an arm bar in the under-18, 100-plus kilograms division.
Instead of competing for gold, Tristan settled for bronze.
The arm bar was so fierce, the opponent suffered a fractured arm in the process, reported Alexander’s dad Anthony.
It stirred some controversy as Alexander was initially awarded the win, and a spot in the gold medal match. But the win was reversed and awarded to the opponent.
Unaware to Alexander and his crew was an Alberta rule which bans arm bars and choke holds in any match that involves a competitor with an orange belt, which was the opponent’s rank, Anthony said. Alexander holds a blue belt, two higher in the Canadian ranking system.
Protests by representatives of Judo B.C. were unsuccessful.
Alexander has now won three medals in as many international tournaments, having also won two golds.
Two more Victoria Judo Club athletes, Brennan Jolley and George Lucas, also attended the competition but did not medal.
Next up for the Victoria judo athletes is the National Championships, July 4 to 7, at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
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