The Bad Boy Olympian

This programme contains some strong language

Ashley MacKenzie is one of Britain's

most successful, explosive martial arts fighters.

When I'm fighting, I'm so buzzed up,

I just want to go out there and just pull something.

But he's also been banned from his sport four times for misconduct,

and he and his mum have not always seen eye to eye with judo's bosses.

I don't do judo. I hate the fucking sport, do you know what I mean?

I wish if he didn't have to do judo he could do something else,

but Ashley can't do nothing else.

Now he's been given one last chance to make the Olympic squad...

I'm a-getting a little semi on.

-..but getting there will demand extreme training...

-Ah!

-Now suplex me.

-100 kilos!

..a new level of self-control...

All right, you're telling me at the end of the day, I can't have sex?

..and his best ever competition performances.

Yes, he's in the final! Yeah!

He went a long way, and he's still going a long way.

THEY LAUGH

-Ashley!

-Yeah?

-Are you bloody ready?

HI-FI: # Rough up I'm coming to get you... #

21-year-old Ashley MacKenzie is not the easiest person to live with.

"Make sure you shut the front door on your way out, Ashley."

-Does it work?

-No, because he left it open yesterday.

-I didn't mean to leave it open.

-He left it open like this.

Does that worry you?

Course it does! I could have come home to an empty house

and it would have been his fault.

Ashley's always struggled with his concentration.

Aged 11, he was diagnosed with ADHD.

Ashley didn't want to be different.

He didn't want to have all this medication

or going to the doctors or tests.

He didn't want it all. He just wanted to be normal.

ADHD messes with my head style, telling you.

Like, you could just be out on a high

and then you'd just be on a low,

and then you can be naughty and not knowing that you're being naughty.

Because of his condition, Ashley left school with only one GCSE.

The place he knew he could shine was the judo mat.

Within 10 years of starting out,

he'd become one of Britain's best young fighters.

What a sport can do for you is open different doors

and once you open different doors,

you go through them doors and you open more doors for yourself.

Things open for you, if you try hard.

And I've tried, like, endeavour best, do you know what I mean,

at what I'm doing, and this is why I'm here today, innit?

I like to think, anyways.

Now, Ashley's on the brink of realising his judo dream -

competing at the 2012 Olympics.

It's been decided he needs to move out of his West London home

and go to live in Kent with his coach, Chris.

Chris is going to be a lot different.

Chris will make sure that he's up, he's running,

where in here, I have to work.

I'm out the door by eight o'clock.

Ashley could then be lying in bed all day, you know, skip judo,

just like a kid would dop school.

Are you going to miss him?

Um...yeah.

Yeah, I will.

Yeah, I will miss him.

-Just be good, Ash.

-Yeah, I will.

I know I'm not going to see you a lot now,

but just don't forget to phone, all right?

-I will do, I will do.

-And just behave, all right?

Remember, Chris is different from you. Don't forget, yeah?

Ashley, phone me.

-Love you, bye!

-Bye!

-Bye!

-Bye!

# Hi-ho, hi-ho

# Off to work I go... #

I've looked after Ashley all his life

and then to pass it to somebody else, it's really hard.

Basically, got to just try and change my heart.

It's going to be a different kind of atmosphere.

I've obviously trained full-time before,

but it's just going to be a bit more intense, really.

He desperately wants it.

I don't even want to think about if he didn't get it.

I don't want to answer that.

-I really don't want to answer it.

-Why?

Because I'm scared.

He deserves a chance, Ashley deserves a chance.

Ashley's coach Chris was himself a judo champion

and fought for Britain at the Moscow Olympics.

Excuse me, Ashley.

Although he's taken other judo fighters in before,

none of them have had a disciplinary record as bad as Ashley's,

whose poor timekeeping is notorious

and who's been banned repeatedly for drinking and getting into fights.

I have good friends in the sport.

He said, "What on earth have you done?"

I said, "Well, I've done it."

He said, "You must be raving mad!"

I said, "No."

I said, "You know, I just can't help it.

"I think he's a good lad, so I'm sorry, I know you disagree,

"but I think he's a good lad."

What's it like having Ashley in your house?

It's annoying.

It's annoying!

Why's that?

Because...

He keeps on saying rude words.

And fighting me and donking me on the pillow!

And hurt my brother.

And hurt my brother.

-Stop it.

-Does he shout out your mum a lot?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

That's it, go on!

That's it, go on, get him off, James! Get him of!

Nice. Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin! Spin, go!

Judo requires fighters to keep precise control over their weight,

their fitness and their mental alertness -

extremely difficult for someone with ADHD,

especially for Ashley,

who now needs to cope without the only drug that can help him.

Sometimes I want it, because it chills me out, mellows me out,

like my all bones is just all relaxed and that.

It's good, I like it.

I did like it sometimes

when I was on it

but now I'm not allowed to take it

due to judo and drug control,

so I'm off it now.

Chris is preparing Ashley for the year's biggest tournament -

the Paris World Championships.

He's concentrating on two things -

trying to increase his commitment to training...

Stay up! Get that arm under his. Get it under!

..and making sure he gets enough sleep.

When he's in my house, he gets no choice.

He's too busy training. He comes in, he's tired.

He's tired. He's finished. He goes to bed.

All right, you're telling me at the end of the day I can't have sex...?

Yeah, you can, of course you can.

Of course, I would do it all night.

No, you wouldn't, not before a tournament.

Is it OK for Ashley to have sex the night before a fight

if he gets it all done in two minutes?

It takes me two minutes anyway, bruv!

I was just going to say!

Don't take me more than two minutes to have sex, you know!

Skip the condom, skip the foreplay and I'm doing it. That is it.

-Can I ask you a question, then?

-Did I do it?

-Can I ask you a question?

-Go on, then.

-I was just trying to think ahead there.

-So, what if... What if...

What if...you don't have a competition for a period of time,

do you reckon they should go out and enjoy themselves of a weekend?

Sensibly.

So does that mean come in at, like, half-eleven, or does that mean...?

It depends what your idea of sensible is.

I don't think coming in...

..a late night out, just a night out.

I don't think coming in at three o'clock in the morning is sensible,

because I think stupid things happen.

Therefore all athletes shouldn't be able to...

We're not talking about all athletes.

We're not talking about all athletes.

We're talking about high-performance athletes.

So everyone who's in Olympic form of stage,

or world or European or competing internationally...

-They wouldn't be out.

-Should never, they would not be?

-No, they wouldn't.

Not the good ones,

not the ones that are in with a chance of winning a medal.

I was just wondering.

Three days later, and just before he flies out

for a pre-World Championship training camp,

Ashley's paid the penalty for not taking Chris's advice.

Look at that eye, though, bruv.

What happened, Ashley?

HE SIGHS

I wouldn't call it a fight.

I got hit, hit at the weekend, on a Saturday.

A guy just come from, like, sideways

when one of my mates were having a fight

and then come from sideways and just kind of...just levelled me.

Obviously I don't want it to happen, know what I mean? I shouldn't be...

I'm a professional athlete and all that and it shouldn't happen.

I mean, it's over.

That's it done.

Another step, my eye's going to get better, that's it, change.

I mean, I know when it's time for parting, when it's time for change.

Know what I mean? So, it's good...

I sat him down and just said, you know,

"This can't happen any more. This can't happen any more.

"One, you're putting yourself at risk of either being stabbed

"or hit over the head, not going to the Olympic Games.

"Is that what you want?

"Are you so desperate to spend a night in a club

"and get pissed and come back with a black eye?

"Are you that desperate to do it? Do you need to do that?

"Because if you need to do it, you're not in the right sport.

"You're not having the right mental attitude

"to go to the Olympic Games. Stop it."

An impressive performance in Paris is one of Ashley's best chances

of securing that Olympic place.

He's leaving Chris to join the British squad

for a short training camp before the competition.

-Who are you meeting here?

-My mum, just to say goodbye for three weeks.

Don't want to go.

We'll see.

What do you think she's going to say when she sees your eye?

Admit she knew it was coming, probably, but we'll see.

Hopefully she'll be all right about it,

but we'll see.

Hello. Hi. You all right? Yeah?

You've got a black eye! You've got a sucker!

Was that judo? Yeah? Through a move? So what happened?

Basically a guy just come in from around, from the side

-and hit me like twice, basically.

-What for?

Just, like, a little scuffle.

All right, have a good time. Love you very much.

Go and do your best, yeah? All right? Be good.

-Be good, look after him.

-Yeah, I will. Don't worry.

Make sure he don't get in any trouble.

Oh, I'm going to go, I'm going to cry!

You have an Ashley off the mat and then you have an Ashley on the mat,

and the Ashley on the mat is confident,

he knows exactly what is expected of him

and he does do the job.

The Ashley off the mat,

if people don't know him and understand him,

that's where it becomes difficult

and I think that's what I'm worried about.

At the training camp in Barcelona,

some of the world's best judo fighters have gathered

and will sparring non-stop for a week.

The whole idea of these training camps is to get

as many fights as you possibly can

and stay at that high intensity

for as long as you possibly can.

That is what you're trying to simulate, a high-level tournament.

That level of intensity, you'll be used to.

You be able to deal with it, you'll be able to soak it up,

you'll be able to feel what the other person's like.

The training give Ashley the opportunity to test himself

against some of the athletes he'll be facing in Paris.

The biggest test in his weight category

is the Japanese fighter and world number four, Yamamoto.

Yamamoto is one of Ashley's biggest rivals.

He's probably one of the best judo players under 60 kilos in the world,

and he's got fantastic technique as well -

just about one of the most difficult players to beat.

Time!

-Is he good, Ashley?

-Yeah, strong in the grip.

Like I said, he only caught me at the last one.

He's, like, one of the best, you know what I mean? So...

Fuck it.

ASHLEY SINGS: # Just the other day

# I ran into this beautiful lady

# She asked me my name... #

'Ashley's room-mate, Winston Gordon,

'is one of the squad's senior and most responsible members

'and has learnt how ADHD affects Ashley.'

-Is he always like this, Winston?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's hyper, I'd give him that.

-You think anyone else could handle it?

-Um...

I don't know. I don't...

All right, Ash, turn that off.

Before, I didn't used to like him but, you know, knowing him

and being with him, I know how he works, you know.

Yeah, we just get along.

Why didn't you like him before?

You know, I think it was just hearsay,

you know, what people were saying.

Yeah, you can't judge a book by its cover.

I know when he's going to switch off.

I know he's going to switch on.

When I know he's going to switch off, I'm like, "Ashley, come."

You know, "Let's... Can't do that, let's do something else."

Try to take his mind off it, rather than encourage him and wind him up

and get him hyped, you know. It's not...

I'm kind of his guardian angel on his shoulder, saying,

"Listen, come on, let's go and do something else."

Booyah! Ha-ha, yeah!

Know that, we're the football team out here, you getting me?

It's the end of the training camp and Ashley's been joined

by Winston and some of his team-mates

to celebrate his birthday.

MANIC LAUGHTER

Alcohol makes it harder for Ashley to control his ADHD.

There's not a bit in my head that says to me, "Right, stop."

It's just, "Go on, just do it, it doesn't matter."

So there's, like, two devils and not one angel.

When I'm sober, there's one angel, there's one devil.

Oi. I might have to smack someone's faces.

-I'm going to smash your face in.

-I'm sorry...

-No, no, no.

-Hey!

-I swear on my life.

-He's only being, like...

He's not being a bad guy, he's just trying to be friendly.

I'm trying to say, "Chill out, close your fists."

-He's being a nice guy...

-I'll bang him on his chin.

-Let's walk.

-I'll walk, for you, but...

-You know what? Don't even bother.

-Bruv, I'm not...

-You've got what-you-call-it on your shirt.

-Let me tell you.

-No, no, no.

-That's mad, boy.

-But the thing is, bruv...

-That's mad, boy.

-No, no, no, it's not.

-It's mad.

-We're going somewhere.

-Let's go.

-What happened? Serious.

-I don't even know, like.

Just a little scramble happened and, like...

I don't know if it was Burnsie or Fallon.

Everyone just gets scrambled

and I was like, yo, in the middle of it, kind of thing.

Not in the middle of... I don't know how I was involved.

Do you know what? I can't even tell you what happened.

HE HOCKS AND SPITS

Fucking... I swear on my mother's life,

I'm going to punch him in his fucking nose.

Prick.

I felt that Ashley's physical preparation was poor

but then when he celebrated his birthday

and made an arse of himself

in preparation for the World Championships?

Not me, no. Poor. Really poor.

-How do you like Paris, Ashley?

-It's all right, it's a nice town.

Not better than London but, you know what I'm saying. It's all right.

Um...

I know a couple of words. Comme ci, comme ca. Oui.

Je m'appelle Ashley McKenzie. Ca va? Ca va bien.

Nah, it's all right, it's not the best.

I'd rather be in New York or somewhere.

But the World Championships is here. I'm going to have to put up with it.

The World Championships is the biggest judo competition of 2011.

A good performance here would almost certainly secure Ashley's Olympic place.

SAXOPHONE PLAYS IN BACKGROUND

It's massive. But this is the World Championships.

17,000 seats.

All on me!

It's massive! Absolutely massive.

You are going to get every nation wanting their players

to be at the forefront of that Championships.

It is an incredibly difficult event to win before the Olympic Games,

quite simply because generally you put your Olympic team

in that World Championships.

MUSIC: "Ernie" by Fat Freddy's Drop

When competing for Great Britain, Ashley gets extra coaching

from Go Tsunoda, one of the world's best judo technicians.

-How's Ashley?

-He's very good.

Very sharp, very sharp. Very concentration.

His head is very clear. Focus, focus, focus - first fight.

I think... We think

that if focus first fight, go,

he can take his lead, maybe...he has possibility,

he can take medal, this World Championship,

but first fight is very important.

In order to compete,

Ashley has to make sure he weighs no more than 60 kilos.

What's it feel like, making weight?

Horrible, cos you just feel dehydrated and making weight,

you just feel, like, dehydrated.

Can't really drink that much so I try to drink as less as I can.

-How tempting is it to guzzle that whole thing, Ash?

-Oh, unexplainable.

-Is it easy to have a piss?

-It's very hard.

Trying right now, not coming out.

This is the biggest competition of Ashley's career.

Chris has come out to Paris to make sure the pressure

doesn't unbalance his focus from concentration.

-You're here, this is the moment, right?

-Mm.

Nobody's like lumping pressure on you. You know that there's pressure.

It's dead simple, mate, but this is when you stand up to that line

and when you stand up to the mark.

Believe you can do it.

What you must remember, when he's standing there like that

and you're standing there, he's only thinking the same as you.

-Yeah.

-He ain't thinking no different, he's thinking,

-"Shit! He looks good."

-Yeah.

And you're thinking, "Shit, he looks sharp."

You have to let him know that you're not going to lose.

You must let him know that you're not going to lose.

Once you get over that, Ashley, I kid you not,

it's there for the taking. I kid you not.

Love you lots. Good.

Cor, that's tough. I don't like that. Don't like doing that.

You've got to try and sort of... You know, not overload him

but try and make it quite clear that he has to step up to the mark now.

CHEERING

HORNS BLARE

Come on, Ashley, OK? Confidence, confidence.

100% attention to your judo, OK? Come on, turn round.

Ashley's first fight is against North Korea's Kang Ho Song.

Do your judo, enjoy. Come on.

Ashley, come on.

Play.

-GO:

-your focus, Ashley. Come on, boy. Keep at him.

Move, move, move, down a bit.

The objective in judo is to throw your opponent on his back

without leaving the yellow square.

Good, good, good. Keep going.

'All I can hear is Go, his instructions.'

But that's it, that's all I can hear. And I'm so...

I just want to jump on the guy and just do what I'm doing.

But I can't, there's nothing in my head. It's just empty.

I try to be so focused and that's the way you've got to be.

Go on, Ash.

Confidence, confidence. That's it.

Yeah!

He pushed, drove and actually forced the score

and got a better score than he would have done.

Down, down, down.

It was so hard as a first fight.

My energy was just sucking up, sucking up

and I felt, near enough, on the verge of death but I was so buzzed still

but it was like my mind was up there, but my body was down here.

And it was so hard in my muscles and I just felt,

"I'm going to be sick."

First fight under your belt at the World Championships...is huge

but you know, that's the start.

That is the start. It does get a little hotter.

How did that go for you?

It was all right, man, but I feel so sick right now.

I've got Dioralyte, and this. Terrible.

My belly just keeps puking up a lot.

-Why?

-Nervous.

You have, well, nerves and...

..just pressure, really. I've got to perform, you know what I mean?

HE RETCHES

Oh, fucking hell.

For a place in the quarter-final, Ashley faces Yamamoto,

the Japanese fighter he sparred with in Spain.

Winning this fight would be the highest achievement

of Ashley's judo career.

-This music.

-Hmm?

-Listen, music, you know.

OK, come, come on, come on, Ash.

'When we stand next to each other, he looks at me.

'I'm not looking away first, I tell you now. I'm on it. I'm ready.'

The first 30 seconds of that contest, absolutely phenomenal.

Couldn't ask for any more.

Turn. Dance, dance, dance. Come on, boy.

Get those hands on, Ashley. Go on, Ashley!

I thought, I'll just give it to him, trying to move.

I know he doesn't like people that move a lot,

I thought I'll just give him everything I have.

'Yamamoto was perplexed, he didn't know where to go,

'where to turn or grip. In fact he didn't even have hold of Ashley.

'Ashley was absolutely on fire.'

Yes!

'The gripping was fantastic, the dragging him to the floor,'

fantastic, cos you're showing you're dominant.

Go on!

First, all pulling, second. One, two. Come on, Ashley.

'After the first 30 seconds Yamamoto closed everything down,

'didn't give Ashley a chance to get his grips.

'Therefore started to turn the contest around in his favour.'

Go on, Ash!

I'm trying to move him, move him, move him but his physical body

is just strong and I was coming to a point

where I'm just overstretching and he's controlling me.

He's not fourth in the world for no reason.

'When Ashley started going back and not able to get his grip,

'it forced Ashley outside of the area, getting the second penalty.'

Bloody hell.

'Getting a second penalty against a player of that class'

is a serious uphill battle.

Don't worry, Ashley. Come on, boy.

He's just got to throw it at him now, he's got absolutely nothing to lose. He's got to let him have it.

Ashley, come here.

Let him have it, Ashley!

When Ashley stops at the end of the contest and crouches down

you know what goes through a fighter's head.

"Dammit, I wanted to do more."

And when you come off thinking that, you've not done enough...

Why, why haven't you done enough?

Why? His condition wouldn't allow him to do what he wanted to do

and I think his condition could have been better.

Small margins, you know, like getting pissed on your birthday,

you know, week before the World Championships.

What the hell... what are you doing?

You know, that's stupid, stupid behaviour

and it makes me cross when I see it.

Is he OK, Go?

No.

That was a loss that cracked me, I was heartbroken.

I think I was crying for about a day.

I was destroyed, thinking, "Why? Why can't I beat him?

"What is wrong with me?"

Happy days, mate, happy days.

-I'm more happier than you.

-I know you are.

Ashley's back at Chris's house. He now has five weeks to prepare

for the World Cup in Liverpool - his next big chance

to make an impression on the Olympic selectors.

# Learning to breathe again

# For the first time in so long now. #

Just try and maintain that pace, Ashley.

What it does, it just switches him off.

I don't want him switched off at the minute,

I want him switched off.

He has got to start to feel good about himself

and he'll be in a good place.

With Ashley, you need to take a back step,

give him a little bit of space.

If you don't, and you get on his case, he'll go the opposite.

That's just his disability. It's the ADHD kicking in.

He will be very confrontational and go, "Oh, yeah? Right!

"I'll be off doing that then!"

That's the wrong thing to do.

I have a tendency to take a back step,

and when he's got Ashley time

he gets the chance to put his head in gear.

When he does, and gets focused on his training, he's a dangerous boy.

He is going to be, I think, a little bit special.

He has learned a tremendous amount from those World Championships.

That was good, wasn't it? Nice. Nice run. You kept that pace.

I fucking love this shit.

HE LAUGHS

It's not only for the running, I just think about things.

I'm thinking about my celebration if I win in Liverpool.

I think about stuff like that.

It's ego, isn't it? But I just think about different things.

'Outside of judo, the things that changed Ashley

'after that World Championships,'

he seemed to be slightly more focused on behaviour,

on punctuality, on...

his general outlook changed.

I don't want to go to school.

Yes, you can, bruv.

-Hold on. Are you ready? We are going to run this shit.

-No!

-Do you like it when Ashley takes you to school?

-Yeah.

I think, you know, to say it how it is, Paris made him more responsible,

made him more focused, made him think, "You know what?

"Hey-ho, I've got to do this, get up, train harder, get the medals,

"that he has asked of me."

Believe in himself more.

'With two weeks to go until the World Cup,

'Ashley is spending a weekend

'visiting both his parents back in West London.'

What is it like having Ashley back?

No, it is good, it is good, it is good to see him.

I see him for a couple of days.

-MUSIC PLAYS

-Listen to the music for the next couple of days,

probably the same tunes over and over again.

It is good for him to come home.

He needs chill-out time, and to relax and be with the family.

Are you all ready to go out?

Do you know where he is going tonight?

Yes, I think he is going up to his dad's.

Ashley does try to go and see his dad when he gets home.

Sort of, like, spends a bit more time up his dad's.

-See you later, Mum.

-See you later, have fun.

Hello? Yo?

Joker. Let's see.

This is my dad.

Everyone calls him Resident

because he has been around the area for so long.

This is my good dad. He helped, obviously, with my judo and that.

With money, he has supported me from day dot.

He has supported me from the start to the finish.

And he is still supporting me, giving me money and that.

-He has come to watch me one time as well.

-Just one time?

-Yeah, once.

-OK.

Here comes the family.

What's happening? What's happening?

Look at him!

Hey, rock star!

-Can I ask who you are?

-I am Barry Dread.

Painter and decorator, exterminator.

Charge £5 an hour!

ALL LAUGH

I am a Rastaman.

What's going on, little man? Cool.

You see that? Rastafarian!

You see that? Eh?

Hey, Selassie hair!

MEN LAUGH AND CHATTER

-What do you think of what he's achieved?

-I think it's great, man.

It's a great...a great achievement. He's one in a million.

You know what I mean? There's black kids who don't have what he have,

and don't go as far as he go.

He went a long way and he's still going a long way.

You know what I mean? So, yeah, I'm glad for... Touch me, nigger.

-Touch this!

-LAUGHTER

-You know Ashley for a long time.

-Yeah.

-You know what trial and tribulation he's been through, don't you?

-Yes.

And I know what you and your Susan go through as well.

And this is why we are one family.

One family!

-Look at all them!

-Right, come on!

LAUGHTER

Bang, bang!

Ashley. Ashley, my boy.

Yeah, my boy. My boy.

Cheer the man!

-COACH:

-Yes, yes, yes! Step! Step, step, step!

Drop! Yeah, drop!

Yo! Lovely one, good boy!

You're king of the castle, I know. Yes.

-BOY:

-You're a dirty rascal! >

You're the king of the castle.

You're the dirty rascal.

There's a week to go until the World Cup in Liverpool.

Chris has been working on Ashley's fitness.

He's also brought in world master champion, Dickie, to help out.

Go on, Ashley! Good, son. Go on. Good boy.

Move, boy! Do not be letting him have it!

That's better, much better.

Get up, James. Good.

See that? Much, much better.

Lovely body. Good boy.

-Lean, mean fighting machine.

-HE LAUGHS

Dickie's a world master champion. Load of respect for that.

-Respect, you get me!

-Yeah!

-What does he need to do for Liverpool?

-He needs to change nothing,

because he is doing everything right at the moment, yeah?

All he needs to do is go out there

and fight the fight he always fights and he will win.

He's a champion in his own right, yeah?

I've got a lot of respect for this boy, cos he is good.

He's a good judo boy.

A lot of people underestimate him, but he can produce it on the day.

My dog! My dog!

'Ashley's asked his mum to come and watch him in Liverpool.

'She hasn't seen him fight for two years.'

Why do you think Ashley wants you to go so much?

One, because I can't afford to see him when he goes abroad, OK,

and I do work and I do have another child to look after.

Um, and two...

I think this is, this is quite a big competition, it's a World Cup,

so I think, depending on the result of this one, will be whether,

you know, I don't know, whether he'd get to 2012 or not, to be honest.

Do you think he wants to make you proud?

Yeah, I think he's always tried to do that.

I think it is kind of like a reassurance thing, you know,

cos when Ashley was really little, and he, you know,

he used to try and do tasks at school and things like that,

you know, he needed reassurance all the time.

Like, "You're doing well, Ashley." "Carry on, you're good at this."

And when he wasn't as good at things, it was really hard for him.

SHE SIGHS

This is what you could say... is Ashley's life.

God, memories, eh?

This was mouth-to-mouth.

This was because I had to learn mouth-to-mouth,

because Ashley did stop breathing and I had to do that.

Oh, my God!

Oh, shit!

"To Ashley..."

Basically, this was when he used to go, this was when I put Ashley

into a psychiatric unit, Collingham Gardens, for six months.

And they were the ones who diagnosed Ashley with HDAD

and conduct disorder and all the other ones that went with it.

And I sent him things like that, you know, "I love you."

SHE SOBS

-Sorry!

-That's OK.

-Oh, my God!

To think, what, I put my son in a psychiatric unit.

I had to do it! No-one was listening to me!

Ashley's behaviour was getting a lot worse

and everybody just kept saying

he was playing on my emotions and he wasn't.

There was things wrong with Ashley.

And I couldn't bear it, I couldn't do it, it was really hard.

When you have a child with special needs,

no-one ever tells you how to cope with that.

As a mum, your natural instinct is to be a mum to a kid,

not to be a nurse, or a psychiatrist, or a psychologist.

You know, it's none of them things. You have to be taught that.

I had to be taught...

I had to try and discipline him in a different way to other kids,

you know, which was hard.

And the place had iron bars at the windows

and it would have a padded room, for when the children, you know,

get a little bit upset, they can put them in there.

You know, and it was good,

I'm not saying that what I did was a bad thing,

cos it taught me a lot of things that I didn't know about my own son,

you know, and then it explained a lot of things,

the reason why Ashley was acting the way that he did.

That's life, innit? You've gotta... Well, you've gotta deal with it.

If it gets dished out to you, you've gotta deal with it.

And I think Ashley's dealt with it pretty good...

..you know?

It's Ashley's last training session before the World Cup in Liverpool.

Just pulling there, boy. There, now flex, mate!

100 kilos!

LAUGHTER

One, two, three, four, five...

30 seconds!

What are you thinking about?

Boy, it's a lot of things, d'you get me?

Just the weekend.

See, I want to win it, innit, like?

So it kind of gets hard a bit, d'you get me, as, er...?

Obviously, as the week goes on, d'you get me?

And the training you've got to do for it,

which gets harder and harder, really, doesn't it? And, er...

D'you know...

The mental side's just... just doing my thing, really, um,

trying to...trying to be the best.

Trying to succeed, d'you get me, to the fullest?

And, er, obviously, training like this is going to make me,

d'you know what I mean, reach my targets?

But at the end of the day, it's still hard. It's still like

you miss your family, you still miss your friends, d'you get me?

But judo has helped you get control of your life, hasn't it?

Yeah, judo's given me a mad booster to my life, innit?

Like I'm not the tallest of guys,

so I will say, like, give me Yellow Pages to kiss a girl, innit?

Let me put it in them kind of terms, so it gave me another step,

d'you get me, it gave me high heels on my feet, d'you know what I mean?

It gave me a pavement instead of walking on the road, d'you get me?

And, er, that's where it took me, innit?

It's took me to another light, I see different things,

I see different people, I see rich people, I see poor people,

I see good things, I see bad things, and it's made me change in myself

to want to be a good person.

I don't want to be looked, "He's got ADHD and he's the bad person!"

No, I was the bad person, I've changed now. Now I recognise me.

Now take photos of me and ask for my autograph,

cos that's the person I am now. I would've been signing my autograph

on the piece of paper to get away from the police on bail,

cos that's what judo has done for me, it's made me hit another light.

Hit another step. Hit another wish.

And that's what will keep coming, through and through.

HE SIGHS

SEAGULLS CALL

Susan, hold on. How are you feeling?

Um, really nervous.

-Yeah?

-Yeah. I've already been sick this morning

after I tried to eat my breakfast and I threw it up,

so, no, I don't feel too good at the moment. It's just nerves, innit?

I need to find out where I'm going.

It's bloody big, I can't believe how big it is!

Oh, my God, look at it!

Oh, bloody hell!

Oh, my God.

'I know when that boy is ripe.'

When I handed him over to go, there was no stone left unturned.

Every stitch was in the suit.

Every stitch. And, you know,

I couldn't have done any more to have got Ashley

in the condition that he was.

It felt amazing just being there warming up. Just the atmosphere.

It was amazing.

# In this world of calamity Dirty looks and grudges and jealousy

# And police weh abuse dem authority

# Media clowns we nuh-know 'Bout variety, boom

# The youngest veteran A go murder dem slow

# Ragamuffin sent to call me From the bush bungalow

# Unnu watch mek I clear out my voice now Figaro

# Emerge from the darkness With me big blunt aglow

# Di hammer dem a slam And spectator get low

# Some bwoy could a big Like Bam Bam Bigelow

# Bust off trigger finger Trigger hand and trigger toe

# A two gun me have Me buss dem inna stereo

# Cos I got to keep on walkin' On the road to Zion land... #

I'm just jamming, just listening to my music.

And when I get out there, I'm on, man. I'm on it.

-He's coming on.

-Come on, Ashley!

-Come on, Ash!

-ANNOUNCER:

-Ladies and gentleman, next on the mat two,

Ashley McKenzie from Great Britain.

SHE SQUEALS

Come on, Ashley.

I cheered him.

Ashley's first fight is against German champion Robert Kopiske.

I thought, "Do you know what?

"This is for the crowd, this is for the people.

"I want to show them I'm number one

"and I'm going to show you lot a performance today."

Come on, Ash!

As I felt weakness, I thought I'd catch it and that's when I threw him.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Oh, shit.

He won it. He won his first one anyway.

That's a good sign.

My mum has been there through thick and thin for me.

She's been through special school,

with me being in trouble with the police,

trouble with girls,

trouble with big men,

trouble in school

and I am sorry for all that.

But my way of repaying her

is for her to say to anyone on that street,

to all them people that I've been bad to,

"I'm very sorry, but I'd like to tell you my son has just got to 2012."

And that would make me one happy fucking man.

The next fight his... The next fight's 100%.

Who is the next fighter?

The French boy.

The French boys, eh...

The French is a high level.

Many judo guys are high-level, so he know very well the judo.

He know very well the tactic, he know very well the judo,

so I think this fight is very important, I think.

I have nothing to say for Ashley, just better keep going,

because now he enter his world.

APPLAUSE

By mid afternoon, Ashley's through to the semi-final

and he's within touching distance of a silver medal.

Come on, Ashley!

Yeah! Oh...

Come on, come on, just get one score.

That's all you need. Just one. Just one.

CALLS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Come on, Ashley!

Come on! A minute to go.

There's still no score.

The French guy, he was very strong,

but towards the end of the fight, I felt him getting weaker

and I thought if I hooked him, it's either me or him,

but I felt stronger than him when I hooked him and I thought

if I just give him more of a pull than he gives me

then I could, kind of, pull him over and throw him.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

YES! YES!

And I thought, "I'm in the finals now."

Six, six, six seconds left.

Six seconds left. And then he's in the final. He's in the final.

He ain't throwing me in three seconds. Not in a million years.

Two seconds. One second. Yes, he's in the final! Yes! Yes!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Ashley's in the final! #

-ANNOUNCER:

-Mat number two, with a win and going through to the final,

Ashley McKenzie of Great Britain.

I'm hungry. I'm a hungry guy today.

A hungry guy. That's my hunger.

That is my hunger. Hey, big man, just remember me. I ain't got a pass.

Yeah? Remember me. I'm just proving, do you know what I mean?

I'm just proving to everyone

that I can still do it, d'you know what I mean?

I'm number one and that spot ain't going away from me.

I said it from the beginning and I'll say it again. It's done.

That's my spot, do you get me?

I've worked my bollocks off.

I worked days, I've worked nights.

Shut up. You've worked...

HE SCREAMS TRIUMPHANTLY

-Yeah, good man. Well done. Well done. Good.

-It was hard, Winston.

It was, it was, but, friend, but you know you're going to get it

and you know you've been expecting it, so... But it's good. It's good.

You kept your cool and obviously you was a bit frustrated out there,

but you just kept it and you picked your moment,

six seconds to go and you popped him. You get me?

Good man, good man, good man. Keep up the work, you know?

Not complacent, uh? Good, good, good. All right.

HE SCREAMS TRIUMPHANTLY

I'm going to get my one done. I'm going to get one an' all.

Can you get in the queue, Mum, please?

Oh, all right, son.

-Thanks.

-Is it all right if I...?

Ashley McKenzie's just looking at his name in the book.

Mum, give me that for a moment.

-I told him first thing this morning you'd win, he'd do it.

-I love you.

Do you know what? You've made my fucking day today. Seriously.

Seriously. I've been sick,

-I've cried.

-Told you.

-Seriously.

I don't care now. Silver or gold, it don't matter.

One thing he knows that I don't like, OK,

is you do not settle for a silver medal.

You fight for a gold medal. You don't say, "Wow, I'm here.

"I've at least got a silver medal." No, you haven't.

You haven't got anything. You are fighting for a gold medal.

Come on, son. Last fight, OK?

Come on, boy.

Come on, boy.

-ANNOUNCER:

-In white representing Slovenia, Matjaz Trbovc

and in blue representing Great Britain, Ashley McKenzie.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Come on, Ashley!

Come on, Ash.

-Come on, Ashley.

-Come on, Ash.

CALLS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

-Please, please, please.

-Come on, Ash.

Come on, baby, please.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

YES!

When Ashley scored with that fantastic technique,

coming round the top, coming over the top of Ashley is dangerous.

He's explosive. You know, the speed that Ashley has

in coming underneath, he's electric.

Come on, pull it!

Pull him, Ashley!

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one...

SHE CHEERS

Best day of my life winning the last fight.

It was amazing just to lift everyone's spirit.

The first day of the tournament, gold in the 60kg, Ashley McKenzie.

I felt so happy.

I was lost for words on the rostrum.

He was a man that day. Ashley grew up.

Like a true professional.

Someone who can go and represent Great Britain in the Olympics.

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