HILL TOP born and bred Jennifer Purcell was in Belgrade taking on the world’s best judo players at the World University Games last week.
The former Bowral High vice captain played Judo in the under-57kg women’s event and took on the national champion of France, Sarah Ioko.
Purcell, 23, was beaten by the French star but won her second bout to record Australia’s only judo win of the championships.
She went down to a Chinese opponent in her third match to finish in equal ninth at the end of the competition.
Purcell moved from Hill Top to North Ryde in 2006 to study at Macquarie University. She finished a Bachelor of Arts last year and is doing an Honours in Ancient History.
Her rise to the world university games caps off her long journey in judo.
She started judo as a 10-year old in the school hall at Hill Top and there she learnt the basics and developed a passion for the Olympic sport.
In 2000 she was the youngest registered judo volunteer at the Sydney Olympics and rubbed shoulders with the superstars of the sport.
The next year Purcell competed at the state and national judo championships and headed to Wollongong each week for specialist coaching. Before long, the trips to Wollongong turned into training at Homebush and Purcell was selected for Australia at the Youth Olympics in 2005.
But tragedy struck as she had shattered her ankle in training and on the day of her operation to inserts bolts, screws and plates, she was picked in the Australian team.
Judo Jen decided to compete anyway and her specialist decided it was possible but she would have to do it with a bolt still in her ankle. Days before the Olympics she snapped the bolt holding her ankle together, but competed anyway.
Purcell was rewarded with a sport scholarship at Macquarie University and has proved her worth by representing Macquarie at the highest level. She was rewarded with an induction into the university’s sporting hall of fame.
Her mother, Sylvia Purcell said Purcell heads home to Hill Top to ride her horse Goliath.
“Sometimes when she feels it’s all getting too much she comes home and takes some time to ‘breathe’ as she says,” Mrs Purcell said.
“We know that means she is coming home to see her horse.”
Mrs Purcell said last week’s competition may have been her daughter’s last because of an ongoing shoulder injury.
“She has been advised by specialists, numerous specialists, that to stop the aggravation in her shoulder she needs to stop judo,” she said.
“But she has always been involved in training kids classes and still loves the sport so no doubt she’ll still be involved.”
Giving up judo would leave a hole in Purcell’s life, but she has plenty of other things to fill it.
This week she is at a university in Europe finishing her honours research.
Next week she is in Jerusalem, supervising an archaeological dig for a month and she also started a not-for-profit foundation.
Inspired by volunteer work in India, Purcell established Tara Ed.
“Tara” means star in Hindi and the foundation aims to create star teachers to help childern shine.
She sees education as the way out of poverty and has organised a group of Macquarie’s best teaching students to travel to India for a three-week teaching tour near Goa.
So today, Judo Jen is Jerusalem Jen and next month it’s Social Justice Jen.
There’s no knowing what’s next for this allrounder.
For more information or to support the foundation go to www.taraed.org.
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