Olympic Games / Judo - Prospects for Gold: Rendle channels aggression for success: Two British judo champions are determined to prove their critics wrong, Philip Nicksan reports

JUDO may have proved the true medium of Sharon Rendle as her two world titles attest, but at the root of it all, as she admits herself, is raw aggression.

Blonde but direct and bold in manner - quite common, she says, in her home town of Grimsby - Rendle has a slight swagger to her walk but otherwise does not give the impression of being a bruiser.

But she admits quite honestly: 'If I was a man and I hadn't come across judo, I would probably have become a boxer.'

Instead, she has become the most consistently successful featherweight British judo has produced. In addition to her world titles, she won the women's judo demonstration competition at the Seoul Olympics and her reason for returning to the Olympic milieu is specific.

'My sole purpose of going to the Games is to win a gold medal,' she declares. 'It is as simple as that.'

This is not wildly ambitious talk. When she only took a silver medal at the last world championships in Barcelona, many observers worried that, at the age of 26 Rendle was past her best. For her, as for Karen Briggs, the inclusion of women's judo for the first time on the main programme of the Olympic Games had come a couple of seasons too late.

But Rendle surprised her critics by beginning Olympic year in crisp form by winning the Tournoi de Paris in January.

The way she won was as impressive as the bare result itself. In the final, against Japan's Matsume Ueda, she went ahead with a good throw, but was then thrown herself.

Just when she thought she had the tournament - and Olympic selection - in the bag, she had to pick herself up physically and mentally, and start all over again. This she did in demonstrative fashion, sweeping Ueda right off her feet with a perfect de-ashi- barai (footsweep), a manoeuvre which calls for split-second timing and high-level skills.

She needed to do well in Paris - Loretta Doyle, her principal British rival, was snapping at her heels for the Olympic place. It is a rivalry that has continued since 1986 when Rendle first grabbed the top British spot. Since then, rarely has she let the initiative go.

There was some controversy in May when Doyle won the European championships in the absence of Rendle, yet still had to be content with the position of Olympic reserve. Nevertheless, Rendle is generous in her tribute to her long-standing opponent.

'I can say that without Loretta Doyle I wouldn't be where I am now. I have always known that some of the hardest fights I will ever have are right on my own doorstep.

'I had to beat a world champion just to get to the world championships - which made me stronger when I arrived on the international scene. The difference between us is that though she is more skilful, I am more aggressive. 'I am confident that I can throw anyone, and my armlock is good. But if someone wants to push me into the mat I can fight in exactly the same way. That has given me a slight edge.'

Rendle has always been a fighter. At the age of 15, after the death of her mother, she went to live with her Judo coach, Terry Alltoft, and his wife, Jenny.

She admits she was fortunate she found judo as an outlet for her sporting energies at a top level. 'I am useless at anything to do with balls - but I have always wanted to do things like parachuting and bungey-jumping.'

(Photograph omitted)