LAURIE PACE is another household name in the field of Maltese sport. In all probability, young and old alike will remember her name with great pride, as Laurie was the first Maltese athlete to appear on the podium to receive a highly esteemed bronze medal at a major event such as the Commonwealth Games. Laurie is also the first woman former national team athlete to have been elected to sit on the Malta Olympic Committee Executive. Of course, she has been a very successful athlete, a top instructor and a coach as well as a physical
education teacher, but she made a name for herself in judo, a sport to which she has always been attracted. Here, she tells her story to Henry Brincat
Laurie Pace has always been a keen sportswoman, since she was a five-year-old at school.
In actual fact, although she is more known as a judoka, she has had a go at several other disciplines, which makes her an all-round sportswoman.
If one simply takes a glance at her sporting career in the accompanying profile, it is easy to see that judo was, in fact, one of the last, if not the last, she practised before making up her mind to continue her “vocation” in that sport.
She said: “I had started with athletics and netball. I won the netball schools title with my team eight times, under the guidance of our coach Carmen Galea – she was a very dedicated person and even kept us after hours for training purposes. Later, I also practised gymnastics for 10 whole years and in 1982, I won the All Schools title in the floor work exercise.
“At 12, I started judo, but I must say I was lucky. At first I did not know what it was all about, but I certainly felt comfortable as gymnastics came in useful. In fact, I started to feel a certain superiority over the others and that made me feel important. After one year, I never looked back, winning my first championship in 1979, both in the Under 50kg and in the Open and going on to win it every year till the year 2001.
“I went from one success to another, both at home and abroad. Among the events I managed to win were the Doreen Cook Trophy and Janatha Stubbs Trophy (both twice), the Kent Open and the Medway City Council Sports Festival in 1991. I won the prestigious bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand in 1990 and gold medals at the inferior Games for European Small States in 1999 and 2001, the latter being the most difficult as I had to take part in the Under 57 kg due to changes to the weight rules,” she said.
Pace, who had only one club in her career – the Kamikwai Judo Club – gave her all to the national team as well. “In 1979 I had already been called to the juniors squad but in 1981 I was automatically called into the senior squad as I had won the Open. In 1983, I took part in the European Championship for seniors for the first time. It was my first experience abroad. I was like a fish out of water and, of course, my performance was unimpressive. But it was a massive experience. In my first bout, I played against the world champion. I had no chance and of course, I lost to her. I was already packing my bags when they told me that there was the repechage, something I did not know about then. I lost once again, but after that, I could transmit my experience to the others in the national squad.
“I progressed from there to take part in competitions in Crystal Palace, England, I won the Doreen Cook Trophy, the Malta Open and also my category in a Malta-Britain Schools competition. Then came the British Open in 1984 and I managed a creditable fifth place. At the 1984 World Championship, I finished seventh, which was my best result considering the high level.
“It was in 1990 that I managed to break the ice at the top level – winning that prestigious bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. To win that bronze, I beat the same opponent who had beaten me the previous year in the Welsh Open. She was a Scottish girl and later, on congratulating me, she said she would have preferred to have beaten me in New Zealand rather than in Wales.
“The year after, in the Commonwealth Games (Judo only), I again came third but it was even more difficult as I had to win at least four bouts to get into the medal zone. And in 1993 I obtained the first medal for Malta at the Small Nations Games, winning the silver in my category. In 1995 and 1997, I also won silver medals, but finally I struck gold at the 1999 Games in Liechtenstein. I repeated that in the 2001 Games in San Marino.”
It is evident from the above that such a dedicated and successful sportswoman had to make several sacrifices during her career. “Yes, in fact, I was on a diet for most of the time. I had to train continuously and not much money was available. At work, I only had 24 days leave, otherwise I had to rely on unpaid leave to be able to take part in all those competitions,” she said.
Speaking about her experience as an MOC director, Laurie said she had been surprised to have been elected at her first attempt. “At first when I joined in, I thought those on the executive were people only interested in travelling abroad and most of whom did not know anything about sport. But I soon realised how wrong I was. I am also proud of the fact that I am the first woman former national team athlete to have made it to the Executive of the MOC.
“I am also very proud to have represented Malta in the Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney Olympic Games where I was flag bearer in Barcelona and Sydney. I was also flag bearer at the Small Nations Games in 1999 and torch bearer at the 2003 Games in Malta. These will always be proud moments in my career which I will remember for ever,” she said.
Pace said her first four years at the MOC were a shock. “It was difficult to make the change from athlete to director at the highest level. But in the past two years, I must say I have got accustomed to it.
“I actually spend more time as assistant Chef de Mission and on the Athletes’ Commission. It takes at least two hours a day, but I like it – having under my responsibility tennis, taekwondo, judo and athletics.”
Asked what the best moment was in her judo career, Laurie quickly referred to winning the bronze medal at the New Zealand Commonwealth Games. “There is no doubt about that, but I will also cherish the two golds won at the Small Nations Games,” she added.
I also asked her to describe her most disappointing moment. She said: “It was at the Sydney Olympics. I had prepared myself well. I trained hard and was drawn to face a French girl. The referee controlling our bout gave an Ippon (victory) to the French girl. It should have never been awarded to her. I was bitterly disappointed with that decision, but after 10 months I was back in action and despite a spate of injuries and some sacrifices, I was back in good shape and went on to win the gold medal at San Marino,” she stated.
She praised the Judo Association administration in Malta, saying they had always been very serious in their approach. “They are good administrators and have a good and sound back-up, which is why they always have some individual talent springing up among their ranks. The sport certainly has a bright future,” she added.
Laurie Pace – a profile
Date of birth: 9 February 1966 in Toronto, Canada
Education: Attended Maria Assumpta School between 1978 and 1982. In 1990, she obtained two diplomas in nutrition from the Packard School of Nutrition of Canada and from nutritionist Dr Griscti. Between 1994 and 1995, she obtained a diploma in physical education and nutrition at the ICS School of Canada. In the following two years she obtained a diploma in Sport Psychology at the ICS School of Scotland which she followed, between 1996 and 1999, with another diploma, this time in Classical Homeopathy, at the London College of Classical Homeopathy (LCCH). In 2001-2002, she successfully completed a national coaching certificate programme and in 2003-2004, she obtained her Masters Degree in Sport Organisation Management at the University of Lyon in France.
Work experience: Her first job was as a gym instructor. She worked in various gyms such as the Gym & Tonic, World Class Gym, Fitness One on One, in Toronto, Canada, STN Canada and the Geres Health & Fitness Club. She was also a physical education teacher at the Chiswick School and at Maybone School, Canada. As a personal trainer, she also accompanied a team of 16 people who climbed to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, giving nutritional advice. In 2001, she was a senior administrative officer at Mobisle Communications, GoMobile and at present she is a junior executive with the same company, where she is in charge of the Customer Contact centres in Malta.
Sporting career: She started athletics at school as a youngster (at the age of five). A year later, she began playing netball and won the schools league championship with her team eight times. She also practised gymnastics, but after being introduced to judo, she became hooked on it, probably because she was lucky in that gymnastics played a great part in helping her to take this sport more seriously. She has represented Malta in several international tournaments, at home and abroad, and has won the Malta title on several occasions. She won a very prestigious bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, two gold medals in her category at the Games for European Small States and two other silver medals at the same level, apart from other successes. As an athlete, she was also the Maltese contingent’s flag bearer at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 and at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and at the Small Nations Games in Liechtenstein in 1999. She was the torch bearer at the Malta Games for European Small States in 2003. She also represented Malta in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Being an all-rounder, she also took part in canoeing, women’s waterpolo with St Julian’s, cycling, won the Malta Triathlon in 1988 and took part in the Malta Marathon twice in 1987 and 1988. In 1984 she was also active in Ju-Jitsu and Shotokan Karate, apart from skiing and body-building.
Administrative career: She was the national judo women’s team coach for eight years, between 1985 and 1993, preparing the 30-strong team for competitions both at home and abroad. She was elected to the Executive Committee of the Malta Olympic Committee for the first time in 2000 and was appointed director with duties at the Functional Diagnostic Laboratory. Last year she was elected to the Executive Committee once again and is occupying the post of Director of the Olympic Academy. She is also the assistant Chef de Mission for the forthcoming Andorra Games for European Small Nations and the Mediterranean Games in Almeria, Spain. She occupied the same post two years ago on the occasion of the Malta Games.
She is also a director of the Olympic Library and chairperson of the Athletes’ Commission.
Awards: In 1990, she was awarded the IOC Trophy for the woman who had most promoted sport in Malta. Another award was the Qadi tar-Repubblika medal presented to her by the President in December 1991. She was named Sportswoman of the Year three times and came close on a good number of other occasions. In 1987, she was named as the first woman official Judo referee in Malta and a year later she became a second class Judo referee (the first woman) in Malta. In 1987 she was awarded the title of Miss Amateur Body Building Champion.