Jake Bensted (judo) won bronze in the men’s under 73kg division at his second Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, losing to the eventual gold medallist in the semi-final, then winning through the repechage to gain a place on the podium. He was the first Australian male judoka to win two Commonwealth Games medals after an identical result in Glasgow eight years earlier. Jake was introduced to judo by his uncle when he was six, training at the Geelong YMCA Judo Club. He made his international debut as a junior in 2008 at the Kindai Cup in Japan. Since then, he has travelled around the world as part of Judo Australia’s National Talent Identification and Development (NTID) squad. Jake has claimed numerous Australian and Oceania titles since 2012 despite undergoing a shoulder reconstruction in 2018 which saw him take two years out of the sport. Bensted competed at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, losing in the third round to the eventual silver medallist Rustam Orujov (Azerbaijan). The Geelong-based athlete trains under Beijing 2008 Olympian Dennis Iverson and is undertaking an engineering degree through the University of South Australia.