Craig Fallon

In September 2005, Fallon won the -60 kg weight class at the World Judo Championships in Cairo, beating Ludwig Paischer in the final. He became only the third British male to win a world title, following Neil Adams in 1981 and Graeme Randall in 1999.

In 2006, he went on to become European champion in Tampere, Finland in the -60 kg weight category beating Armen Nazaryan in the final. He is only the second male British judoka besides Neil Adams to simultaneously hold both a World and European title.

On Saturday 22 September 2007, Fallon went on to win The 2007 Men's World Cup in the -60 kg at the NIA Arena in Birmingham, he was the only Brit to win a medal at the Olympic ranking event.

His first main coach was Bill Kelly. Fallon later competed with his coach Fitzroy Davis.

In 2012, the former Wolverhampton Judo Club ace was inducted into the Wolverhampton Sporting Hall of Fame.[2]

In 2017, Fallon signed a contract as head coach of the Federal Judo Association of Vorarlberg, Austria.[3]

In 2019, Fallon made the move to Welsh Judo Association to become Head of Coaching.[4]

Fallon died on 15 July 2019. His body was found at the Wrekin, a beauty spot near Wellington in Shropshire.[5] No cause of death was given.[6] The coroner at the inquest judged that Fallon had died by suicide.[7]

• Fallon gets biggest kicks from chasing glory, Michael Phillips, Tuesday 20 July 2004, The Guardian
• Fallon is crowned world champion, Sunday 11 September 2005, BBC
• Judo-Weltmeister Craig Fallon neuer Landestrainer, Wednesday 10 May 2017, Judo Vorarlberg