Jake Bensted is a judoka and Olympian who was awarded a Scholarship within the 2015 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program, and was paired with Stan Longinidis as his Mentor.
Jake was born in Geelong in 1994 and was introduced to judo at age six by his uncle. He began training at the Geelong YMCA judo club and first represented Australia in 2008 at the Kindai Cup in Japan, a prestigious junior competition.
Jake has travelled all over the world with Australia’s National Talent Identification and Development Squad, and he won his first senior national title at age 18 in 2012. He took gold in the Men’s U/73kg division and this propelled him to more senior victories and podiums, and into the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Jake returned from Glasgow with the bronze medal.
2014 brought more success for Jake, as he won the ACT International Open and took a silver medal at the Oceania Championships, before winning another national crown.
Jake has long been dividing his time between Australia and the rest of the world for the purposes of training and competition, and he reaped the rewards of this dedication with selection in the Australian team for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Honours & Achievements
- 2010: National Junior Championships – Champion
- 2012: National Championships – Champion
- 2013: World Team Championships
- 2013: World Junior Championships
- 2013: Taipei Asian Open – 5th
- 2013: Grand Prix Miami
- 2013: Oceania Championships – Champion
- 2014: World Championships
- 2014: ACT International Open – Champion
- 2014: Commonwealth Games – Bronze
- 2014: Oceania Championships – Silver
- 2014: ACT International Open – Gold
- 2014: Grand Prix Jeju
- 2014: Grand Prix Qingdao
- 2014: Grand Prix Zagreb
- 2014: Oceania Open Wollongong – 5th
- 2014: Oceania Open Wollongong – 5th
- 2015: Oceania Open Wollongong – 7th
- 2015: World Senior Championships
- 2015: Grand Prix Budapest
- 2015: Grand Prix Zagreb
- 2015: Grand Prix Dusseldorf
- 2015: Senior European Cup Dubrovnik
- 2016: Rio Olympic Games
- 2016: Grand Slam Tokyo
- 2016: Grand Slam Baku
- 2016: Grand Prix Budapest
- 2016: Pan American Open Lima – 7th
- 2016: African Open Tunis – 5th
- 2017: Hohhot Grand Prix
- 2017: Tokyo Grand Slam – 7th
- 2018: Dusseldorf Grand Slam
- 2021: Abu Dhabi Grand Slam
- 2022: Panamerican – Oceania Senior Championships
- 2022: Grand Prix Portugal
- 2022: Winterthur Senior European Cup
- 2022: Commonwealth Games Birmingham
