THORNBURY judoka Sally Conway has fought through the rest of the world to claim a fantastic bronze medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The under-70kg fighter, who hails from Thornbury, but lives and trains in Scotland, bested the fighter from Austria in the fight for the bronze to claim her first Olympic medal.

Despite being unseeded for the competition, coming in as the world number 11, Conway blitzed through the first three rounds, taking out the fighters from Tunisia, France and Israel – each time with the unbeatable 100-point Ippon score.

But in the semi-final, she found herself in a real battle up against Yuri Alvear, the world number two from Colombia, and despite three opportunities to score valuable points, just missed the chance to get her nose in front on the scoreboard - instead going to the instant knockout golden point round.

Despite taking Alvear to ground on a number of occasions, she was unable to achieve a pin or armbar to force a submission and in a quick change of momentum Conway found herself on the receiving end of a throw.

Less than half an hour later, Conway found herself in the first of the two bronze medal finals against Austrian Bernadette Graf, who had come through from the repechage. Again a single score decided the match, but despite begin given two of four allowed yellow cards, this time Conway was on the winning end.

Keeping her defence up for the remaining seconds, Conway was able to push her opponent to the edge before erupting in a jubilant celebration to the applause of the GB fans in the crowd.

After being presented with her medal, Conway said: “It feels absolutely amazing; I am so happy I can’t even put it into words at the moment.

“I didn’t have much time in between [the semi-final loss and the bronze medal match]. One minute you have to the chance to become Olympic champion and the next you are fighting for a bronze medal.

“It was such a quick turnover I didn’t have much time to think, I just had to get bronze after everything I put myself through today.

“The better you fight during the day and the more wins you get under your belt you do grow in confidence. At the start of the day I was very nervous and wondering what today might hold but as the day has gone on I have enjoyed it more and more.”

Having competed in the London 2012 games, Conway described the experience as both “amazing” for the chance to represent Team GB, but also a “massive disappointment”, having only reached as far as the last 16.

“To come away with a bronze medal at Rio 2016, makes every moment worth it.

“Tokyo 2020 is not out of the question, we will see, but I will enjoy this moment and see afterwards.”

Referring to her tattoo on her forearm which simply says “believe”, Conway said: “I told myself to believe in myself, you have got to believe in yourself. You have got to believe that you are up there with the best and go out confident and do your thing.”