After an medal winning year as a jiu-jitsu fighter, Dean Gorman has another piece of silverware to add to his mantelpiece with the Senior Sportsperson of the Year at the Griffith City Council Australia Day Awards ceremony on Friday.
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Dean edged out two other nominees: fellow jiu-jitsu ace Elizabeth Heffer and cycling veteran Jenny Massey.
Luke Testoni, Griffith and District Football Association Vice President, presented Dean with his award.
“Apart from winning the two gold medals and a silver, Dean also won the NSW state, ACT state and Victoria state titles and has obviously got a very bright future in the sport,” Luke said
“Obviously I’m not from here, but I’m very proud it’s a real honour,” Dean said in accepting his award.
After having an on-again off-again love affair with Jui JItsu, Dean is now dedicating himself to the sport full time and the effects are clearly showing off with a successful 2017.
The Riverina Martical Arts fighter snared two gold medals at the Sydney Cup BBJ tournament on March 4 after the white belt first took out his 68-kilogram class before stepping up into the open weight class as the self-described garage-trained brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter led the way for the Griffith group.
Gorman then continued his good form when he travelled to Melbourne to take part in the 2017 Australian National Jiu Jitsu Championships and returned to Griffith after a successful weekend with two gold medals and a silver.
Luke Testoni also paid tribute to the other award nominees, Elizabeth Heffer and Jenny Massey.
“Heffer also competed in the 2017 jiu-jitsu Australian national championships, bringing home silver and bronze”.
Elizabeth has also started her own class in Griffith for women only, which currently has 10-12 participants.
On Jenny, Luke said, “apart from her local achievements, Massey competed in the UCI Grand Fondo World Championship, finishing fourth in her age division”.
Jenni Massey’s championship race was 97km, which presented a hilly landscape with frequent steep climbs up French landscapes to Cahuzac sur Vere, Cordes and finally, the climb of Moulin de Julien.