“My condition has given me opportunities that, without it, I would never have,” Hodgson says. “I have got to travel the world, and if I wasn’t visually impaired I could be better, but I probably wouldn’t be going to the Olympics.”
At 6ft 1in and 21st, Hodgson stands out in a crowd, but the only indication of his disability are hearing aids, tucked into his ears, and dark sunglasses, which he wears in bright light to help with vision. When competing at judo, Hodgson wears neither of these and cannot see or hear the crowd. “I would prefer to have hearing aids but they break when they get sweaty, so I can’t,” he says, adding that he would like to hear his coaches’ guidance. “But I’m fine, I can figure it out, I’m a big boy.”