“Perfect environment” of study and sport at University of Bath helps judoka Emmanuel Nartey achieve PhD goal
Olympic judoka Emmanuel Nartey believes that training in the University of Bath’s inspirational educational environment was a key factor in his completion of a PhD in International Law and Human Rights Law.
Nartey, who represented his native Ghana at London 2012, has been part of Team Bath’s elite training squad for the past 14 years and has combined competing on the international stage with his career as a soldier in the Royal Tank Regiment.
In the past few years, with the encouragement and support of High-Performance Coach Juergen Klinger, he has also pursued an academic career and this month proudly submitted his PhD thesis at the University of East London.
“I have developed a remedy criteria for corporate accountability that can be exercised by domestic and international courts,” Nartey explained.
“It has been very challenging fitting it all in but it is down to time management, prioritising when to study and when to train. And I’m not lazy, which helps!
“A lot of credit goes to Juergen because when he first came in 2006, his goal was to develop athletes who could not only compete at the highest level but also get a top-class education. That approach has always stayed with me.
“I had 746 pages to review before I submitted my PhD, so when I came into training at the start of that week Juergen kicked me out and told me to go home and work. He knew how important this is to me and my future career, so he knew it had to take priority.
“Training in an educational environment like Team Bath has helped me a lot. Other judo centres don’t have that link and I don’t know if I would have had the same opportunities or motivation. Here there is a focus on the dual careers and that has influenced me a lot, it has made me aspire to be better.
“I always tell the younger athletes they are in the perfect environment and they have to maximise all of the opportunities they have here. It doesn’t get better than this.”
Klinger added: “Emmanuel’s success here at Team Bath proves that you can be a successful Olympian and win world and other medals whilst not feeling as if you are wasting your education.
“It’s all about achieving both equally and that is why our programme is so successful.”
Nartey is now turning his attention back to judo and is training in the Team Bath dojo towards his next competition, taking place in Mexico in May.
Click here for more information about the successful Team Bath judo programme.
