{"560871":{"#nid":"560871","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Graduate Is the First Person from His Nation to Compete in Judo","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAt 32 years old, Christopher George put his engineering career on hold to accomplish his dream of representing his home nation at the Olympic Games.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorge is the three-time defending national Judo champion in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter a couple of years of heavy training, George qualified for the Rio Olympics by placing 7th at the 2016 Pan American Judo Championships.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe committed fully after qualifying, putting his career as an engineer on hold.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrior to making the cut for the Olympics, George was a process engineer managing multi-million-dollar energy sector projects across the globe. He earned his degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Georgia Tech in 2006.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore judo became his full-time endeavor, George was also a highly accomplished swimmer. That led him to water polo \u2013 he even captained Trinidad and Tobago\u2019s national team from 2008 until 2011.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut now his sights are laser-focused on Judo and representing his nation for the first time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe first match is the most important thing,\u201d George says. He knows he\u2019ll need to string together four or five victories in order to medal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut more importantly, he wants to show his determination.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt is not the victory after all, but the fight that a brother makes,\u201d George says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorge\u0027s first round match is scheduled for 10:03 am Thursday morning. You\u0027ll be able to watch him live through links on\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/results.nbcolympics.com\/athletes\/athlete=george-christopher-1158550\/index.html?chrcontext=wnyt\u0022\u003E his official Olympic bio here.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more on Yellow Jackets competing at the 2016 Rio Games, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/ramblin-rio\u0022\u003Eclick here.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Christopher George, who earned his degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering, is making history at the games in Rio"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEngineering graduate Christopher George is making history as the first-ever Judo competitor representing Trinidad and Tobago at the Olympic Games.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Engineering graduate Christopher George is making history as the first-ever Judo competitor representing Trinidad and Tobago at the Olympic Games."}],"uid":"28058","created_gmt":"2016-08-10 11:45:04","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:22:19","author":"Steven Norris","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-08-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-08-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"560881":{"id":"560881","type":"image","title":"Christopher George","body":null,"created":"1470844259","gmt_created":"2016-08-10 15:50:59","changed":"1475895364","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:04","alt":"Christopher George","file":{"fid":"206777","name":"christopher_george_judo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/christopher_george_judo.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/christopher_george_judo.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":285643,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/christopher_george_judo.jpg?itok=dvsHXxb8"}}},"media_ids":["560881"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"170575","name":"christopher george"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"172246","name":"georgia tech at the olympics"},{"id":"172247","name":"georgia tech olympians"},{"id":"170576","name":"judo"},{"id":"172248","name":"judoku"},{"id":"1416","name":"Olympics"},{"id":"113631","name":"rio"},{"id":"170577","name":"trinidad and tobago"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESteven Norris\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Social Media Manager\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["snorris@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}