Last Updated on 07/09/2024 by Crip Life
Evan Molloy, a visually impaired judo athlete, is set to represent ParalympicsGB in his first Paralympic Games in Paris this summer.
As part of our ParalympicsGB debutants interview series, our editor, Emma Purcell, speaks to Evan Molloy about living with sight loss and epilepsy, getting into judo, his sporting success so far and what he is most looking forward to at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Evan Molloy was born with ocular albinism and was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of four. With the help of British Judo and the Epilepsy Society, Evan has been seizure-free for four years having previously suffered from up to 40 seizures per week in his teenage years.
Evan started judo at the age of 13 and it quickly became an obsession. He spent the subsequent years travelling the country going to all the competitions he could with his first memorable win coming at the West of England Open in a non-parasport event.
After attending a Paralympic Potential Day just one year after starting the sport he was added to the Para-Potential programme for judo. Evan later joined the British Judo National Training Centre, training alongside the likes of Chris Skelley and Jack Hodgson, athletes he had idolised following their appearance at the Rio 2016. Evan now lives and trains with Chris.
Evan was a training partner for the Tokyo Games, missing out on selection in the -81kg category to Dan Powell.
Evan finished fifth at the World Games in Birmingham in 2023 after taking bronze at the European Championships.
Now the 25-year-old from Devizes, Wiltshire is set to compete in the -90kg category at his debut Paralympic Games alongside Paralympic gold medallist Chris Skelley and World and European medalist Dan Powell.
Read on to find out more about Evan Molloy in his own words and scroll down to see his Paris 2024 results.
Evan Molloy on living with ocular albinism and epilepsy
What is ocular albinism and what level of vision do you have?
Albinism is basically a condition that affects the skin, the hair, and the eyes, in the sense that we’re unable to get pigment. So I’ve got very pale skin, very fair blonde to white hair, and I have a lot of light sensitivity because of the lack of pigment in my eyes.
In terms of what I can see, it massively varies depending on the light situation because if it’s extremely bright, then it gets less and less. But when it’s neutral sometimes it can be okay – it’s very much light-dependent for me.
What was it like growing up with sight loss and epilepsy?
It was pretty smooth, to be honest, I found out very early on that I had albinism and I was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of four. It’s a situation that obviously is a little bit difficult, but it was handled in the best way possible.
I think I was told at the age of five or six that I was never going to be able to drive, but the way it was done was so lovely. I went to the hospital with my dad and
the woman at the hospital said, “Oh, you never wanted to drive, anyway. Did you love? Dad can do that for you. You can be chauffeured about.”
A lot of people have really negative stories, but because I have the luxury of dealing with my condition from birth, I’ve grown up with it. I’m very much used to it. I know no different. It is really relaxing.
On the epilepsy front, it had its really challenging times, especially during the years of puberty and stuff like that. It’s just such an unnatural thing to occur to your body and it’s always like a shock to the system. But in a sense, again, it’s one of those things that, because of my circumstances of being an athlete, it was amazing that I was able to get the help I needed to be able to get everything under control.
Now I’m in a situation to be able to make a proper good push towards the Paralympic Games, which is really exciting because there was a time in my life when I thought that was slipping away from me to a certain extent.
How do you manage living with a visual impairment?
Technology is an amazing tool in terms of being able to just function with it. With an up-to-date mobile phone, I can pretty much get by how I need to. Like, if I need to zoom in on stuff, I can use my camera. If I need stuff read out, I can take a picture and it can get read out.
I think we live in a bit of a time of luxury because I feel a little while ago, people struggled with visual impairment because they didn’t have any of those assistants. Years ago, the magnifiers were the size of computers and stuff like that. It’s crazy how fast technology has moved on to be able to cater towards people with all different types of visual impairment, which is amazing stuff.
With your epilepsy, although you have been seizure-free for about five years, do you still have to take preventative measures or pace yourself in any way?
The thing is, it’s always going to be a part of me. You’re never going to get rid of it completely. It’s always going to be there. I’m extremely lucky because I’m able to use my athlete lifestyle, the kind of life that we have to lead as athletes. It requires a certain amount of discipline like you need to sleep well, eat well and recover well.
Epilepsy is the exact same thing. You need to do all those things and if you’re not, that’s when you get a lot of imbalances I found when I was going through it. So I think, living the life I do, I’m extremely lucky because it keeps everything in check.
Evan Molloy on becoming a judo athlete
What drew you to judo and what do you love about the sport?
My introduction to judo was a very uninspiring experience. I was a young lad that was a little bit chunky and my parents thought what this lad needed was to lose a little bit of weight, and so they chucked me into judo.
It really quickly became a passion because I quickly realised it was a way of building my confidence. I wasn’t a very confident young lad, but being able to do something and have a common interest with other people my age led me to make friends and build relationships within the sport. I then went on to say yes to some amazing opportunities that presented themselves.
By showing up every single day to train as hard as you can, you get offered so many amazing things. I remember how elated I was to be offered my first competition that wasn’t in Britain. It meant so much to me.
Building up to it, I felt like I was constantly chasing and so to be able to get those little bits of success along the way, really spurred me on to keep pushing, keep showing up, and keep saying yes to these amazing opportunities that started to present themselves.
How does Para-judo differ from standard judo?
Para-judo is probably one of the most transferable sports in the Paralympics in my opinion. It might be a little bit biased, but that’s okay, I’ll take that. I’ll deal with that.
The only difference is that we start with contact. So whereas in the Olympics you see the athletes starting four metres apart from each other, we start with a connection at all times, and if we come apart, “matte” is called, which means stop and we are brought back together on the grip at all times. But other than that little difference, everything else is pretty much the same.
You say martial arts has helped with your epilepsy. Can you tell us more about how it has helped you?
It’s helped in a massive way. Being part of British Judo has had a positive influence because of the structure it’s brought to my life. The values that judo as a sport, teaches me to be determined. You have to be determined. There’s going to be good days and bad days. But you’ve got to recognise those, and you just got to keep moving forward with it and keep pushing through.
To have those values and moments is really important. Otherwise, you can get easily lost in how difficult times get and how difficult the condition can be.
I have to give massive credit to British Judo because they didn’t have to support me through that tough time of my life of trying to be a full-time athlete while dealing with the condition of epilepsy.
But every step of the way, from my coaches sticking by my side to the upper management of British Judo willing to help me along that journey, I owe them so much for that. It would have been easy to turn me away and say, “This lad isn’t able to do it.”. But no, they stuck with me the whole way through.
Now I feel like I’ve done a full 180 because like I said at the start, I felt like it was slipping away at one point in my career. Now I can look forward and say, we push through that situation. I’m now going to be living that dream of competing at the Paralympics, and all being well, getting a medal.
What has been the highlight of your judo career so far?
I’ve got a couple to be fair. The people I have met along this journey is probably one of the biggest bits of success you could find out of it. When you go into a sport like judo, you think it’s such an individual experience. But I met the people that inspired me to get into Paralympic sport.
Not only are they amazing athletes, they are amazing people and they’ve very quickly turned over the period of years that I’ve been a full-time athlete, They’ve turned very much into brothers. We’re all very close to the team and we get on very well. That is something that’s going to last a lifetime and is one of the best parts. I have to say that.
In terms of results, I probably have to say last August when I got my first European Championship medal. That was truly a moment for me. That made me realise that it was a pinch-me moment because it made me realise that I can do this. I can push forward. I can achieve at the highest level and that opened up my eyes to what I believe I’m capable of.
Away from judo, what other hobbies and interests do you have?
This is the bit where people always laugh at me a little bit but I love where I’m from. I live away from home with sport. I live in Birmingham but any opportunity I get to be able to get home to Wiltshire and see my family and some of my friends is amazing.
My favourite weekend is when I go back with no plans and I get to spend the weekend having a good laugh with my dad, going to watch the local football team and just being home and having that separation from sport. Sport can be very mentally draining. So at the end of a tough week, it’s nice to get home, see some family and have that bit of separation.
Evan Molloy on preparing for Paris 2024
How does it feel to be selected for your first Paralympic Games?
To be selected for my first Paralympics is a surreal experience for me because I feel like I have been through a true rite of passage to a certain extent, with sport in general. I remember at Rio 2016, I was that lad sitting at home watching Chris Skelley on the TV with my Nan and my dad, and I think I said to my Nan, “I want that to be me one day.”
And just by following that process that we kind of mentioned before, by saying yes to all these opportunities and just showing up, I was able to get into a position where I went as a training partner for Tokyo. That was an amazing experience in itself. I didn’t qualify, but to be able to be there with my teammates was amazing and so cool. Again, it was one of those pinch-me moments because this could be me one day.
Now we’re three years down the line, I am going to be stepping out on that stage and I am going to be able to call myself a Paralympian. That is a real full circle moment for me because from those moments being sat on the sofa or sat in the crowd in Tokyo watching, I’ve had a lot of inspiration and now I’m able to live out that dream, which is really exciting.
How have your preparations been going for Paris 2024?
Preparations have been going extremely well. We’ve been training extremely hard. Times get tough and you get extremely tired in these prep phases. But you’ve got to go in with a mindset that everything you’re going to be doing is going to be necessary, and it’s going to be worth it.
I wholeheartedly believe that. Maybe not in the moment, but upon reflection, it’s the hard training moments where you’re struggling to pick yourself up off the floor that are going to make the difference.
So being able to have more of those moments and push as hard as we physically can, will be able to put us in the best position to perform.
Who knows what’s possible? We can go to the Games and we can enjoy the experience, or we could be there fighting for medals and that’s what we’re aiming for so that would be a nice way to top it off.
What are you looking forward to the most at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, as well as aiming to secure a medal?
I’m looking forward to being able to go into this experience with my teammates Chris and Dan, Jack as a training partner and the other staff that are going as well. They’ve been along this journey pretty much every step of the way.
I’ve lived with Chris for the past five years. I was there watching him win his gold and now I’m going to be competing alongside him on the same day. That’s a really big pinch-me moment, but it’s the same with Dan as well. Being able to be there with these lads is the biggest thing for me because I’ve been chasing and chasing and chasing.
So now to be able to be alongside them is something that I don’t take lightly because not only are we aiming to achieve whatever we’re going to achieve. It’s being able to just take those moments and just think we’re doing it together alongside each other all the way. So that’s really nice.
You can find out more about Evan Molloy by following him on Instagram.
Paris 2024 Paralympics: Judo results
Evan Molloy finished seventh in the Men’s -90kg J2 final after losing 11-0 to Lasha Kizilashvili from Georgia in the repechage A.
Speaking after his match, Evan said: “It wasn’t to be for me today unfortunately. I do believe that on a different day, it could have been a different result. However I can’t take away from the fact it’s been an amazing experience and I’m now going to be Evan Molloy PLY. Head down until Los Angeles.
He added: “The crowds and the whole atmosphere of what a Paralympic Games is like has exceeded all expectations for me. It meant the world to be able to see my dad and I heard all my family in the crowd. To have that support is truly amazing. When I can get back and thank every single one of them, it’s going to be so nice.
“The plan now is to take a good bit of time to reflect on the experience of the Paralympic Games and then I’ll get back into the centre and training and focus on the next one.”
The other ParalympicsGB judo results are:
- Dan Powell – Men’s J1 -90kg – Silver
- Chris Skelley – Men’s J2 +90kg – Bronze
Be sure to catch up on Evan Molloy’s events and the rest of the ParalympicsGB judo squad at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Channel 4.
What is Para judo?
Para judo combines tactical skill, strength and decisive movement. The rules are the same as in Olympic Judo, only the two fighters start gripped up.
One of two martial arts in the Paralympics, judo combines tactical skill, strength and decisive movement.
Each competition is categorised based on weight and severity of visual impairment. Judoka are categorised as J1 (blind) or J2 (visually impaired) and compete in the following weight categories:
- Men’s events: -60kg, -73kg, -90kg, +90kg.
- Women’s events: -48kg, -57kg, -70kg, +70kg.
Contests take place over four minutes with scores of varying degrees awarded for throws, holding techniques or submissions with judoka scoring the coveted ippon to end the contest.
However, if neither achieves an ippon during the contest, the player who has registered a waza-ari at the end of the contest is declared the winner. Two waza-ari also make an ippon.
Shidos (penalties) are also given to the athletes for reasons such as being passive, negative judo or stepping out of the area and can ultimately lead to victory and/or disqualification. Collecting three penalties can award victory to their opponent.
If both judoka are tied on scores at the end of their contest, it goes to a ‘golden score’, where the first person to score wins with no time limit during this period.
Ippon is the highest score in judo and scoring ippon ends the contest. It is shown on the scoreboard as 10.
Ippon can be scored in one of four ways:
- Throwing your opponent largely on their back with considerable force and speed.
- Holding down your opponent with Osaekomi waza (holding techniques), who is unable to escape for 20 seconds.
- When your opponent submits tapping twice or more with their hand or foot or say maitti (I give up) as a result of osaekomi waza (holding techniques), shime waza (choking or strangling techniques) or kansetsu waza (arm locks).
- Scoring two waza-ari against your opponent.
Waza-ari is shown on the scoreboard as a score of 1 and can be scored in two ways:
- Throwing your opponent but lacking one of the three elements for ippon – largely on their back or with force and speed.
- Holding down your opponent for 10 seconds or more, but less than 20 seconds.