Caradhs fight for Tokyo 2020
Donation protected
My goal is to get to the Olympic Games in Tokyo in two years time and I need your help to get me there. Why do I need your help? Well I’m 33 years old, I’ve only joined Karate last year and I have Crohns Disease. Not the ideal candidate on paper for Government funding but let me tell you why I know I’ll succeed.
My name is Caradh O’Donovan and since the age of 12 I've been a fighter. I've had a career in Kickboxing spanning two decades winning World and European Titles including WAKO European Kickboxing Championships and multiple WAKO Kickboxing World Cups.
In 2014 my kickboxing career looked like it was over when I was diagnosed with Crohns Disease. This is a debilitating illness. It caused me multiple hospital visits, swollen joints and extreme fatigue that prevented me from training and also vomiting and diarrhoea that confined me to a bathroom. After being forced off the Irish Kickboxing Team I decided that this disease would not beat me. While I can never be cured, I completely changed my lifestyle, got my health back and a year later I was back to being the World Cup Champion.
My dream since I’ve been a child has been to win an Olympic medal and at my age the only way to do this is to switch sports. Kickboxing is not an Olympic sport and so I’ve decided to start a new sport that has just been included in the Games - Karate, which is very similar. After a couple of months training in Karate I won the Senior National Championships and have represented Ireland at the highest level internationally where I was narrowly beaten by the overall winners. I’m making fast progress. I’m now looking forward to being selected for the European and World Championships this year. To reach the Olympics I need to travel to a lot of other international competitions in order to build up my ranking points. These competitions are held in places such as China, Japan, Serbia and Chile and as I receive no government funding, I need your help to get there.
All money that I raise will go towards travel, medical, training, nutrition and living costs.
Follow me on social media and on my blog for constant updates on the journey to Tokyo 2020!
Thank you for your support.
Facebook - @caradhod
Instragram - @caradh
Twitter - @CaradhODonovan
Blog - www.caradh.com
My name is Caradh O’Donovan and since the age of 12 I've been a fighter. I've had a career in Kickboxing spanning two decades winning World and European Titles including WAKO European Kickboxing Championships and multiple WAKO Kickboxing World Cups.
In 2014 my kickboxing career looked like it was over when I was diagnosed with Crohns Disease. This is a debilitating illness. It caused me multiple hospital visits, swollen joints and extreme fatigue that prevented me from training and also vomiting and diarrhoea that confined me to a bathroom. After being forced off the Irish Kickboxing Team I decided that this disease would not beat me. While I can never be cured, I completely changed my lifestyle, got my health back and a year later I was back to being the World Cup Champion.
My dream since I’ve been a child has been to win an Olympic medal and at my age the only way to do this is to switch sports. Kickboxing is not an Olympic sport and so I’ve decided to start a new sport that has just been included in the Games - Karate, which is very similar. After a couple of months training in Karate I won the Senior National Championships and have represented Ireland at the highest level internationally where I was narrowly beaten by the overall winners. I’m making fast progress. I’m now looking forward to being selected for the European and World Championships this year. To reach the Olympics I need to travel to a lot of other international competitions in order to build up my ranking points. These competitions are held in places such as China, Japan, Serbia and Chile and as I receive no government funding, I need your help to get there.
All money that I raise will go towards travel, medical, training, nutrition and living costs.
Follow me on social media and on my blog for constant updates on the journey to Tokyo 2020!
Thank you for your support.
Facebook - @caradhod
Instragram - @caradh
Twitter - @CaradhODonovan
Blog - www.caradh.com
Organizer
Caradh O'Donovan
Organizer