Lancaster artist who competed in 1984 Olympics to exhibit his work in Paris
Forty years after winning a bronze medal at the Olympic Games, Lancaster’s Neil Eckersley has been invited to exhibit his artwork in Paris this weekend.
Neil, a former extra-lightweight judo champion, is now a professional artist and his latest work – Core – will take pride of place at the prestigious International Judo Federation’s gala
attended by many of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dignatories including the president.
Neil will be there too along with his wife, Anita, who is also an artist.
The couple will carry the artwork with them aboard the Eurostar to ensure it arrives in Paris safely.
“I’m so excited, it’s such an amazing opportunity to be involved with the Olympics again,” said Neil who was an artist in residence at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“If there was one thing on top of my wishlist, it was for my artwork to be part of the Olympic judo event in Paris, it’s massive.”
Core features the main values of the Olympic movement - Excellence, Respect, Friendship – as well as the Olympic rings and iconic Parisian landmarks.
Neil worked on Core for about a year and sent it to International Judo Federation president, Marius Vizer who immediately invited him to exhibit the artwork at the red carpet event at
the hôtel Potocki.
Judo is very popular in France and Teddy Riner, described as one of the greatest judokas of all time, was chosen to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.
Neil has tickets for the final judo events at the Olympics where Teddy will participate.
The whole experience will bring back memories for Neil who, aged just 19, competed in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
He’s recently received a special card from the IOC to mark his 40th anniversary of becoming an Olympian.
“After all the years of hard work and ups and downs, taking part in the Olympics was unbelievable,” said Neil whose mum now has his bronze medal.
“It was a party atmosphere from day one and to walk behind the flag during the opening ceremony and hear the roar of the crowd was almost spiritual but we were there to do a
job.”
When not competing, Neil often found himself in the company of fellow Olympians Carl Lewis and Michael Jordan.
Four years later, in 1988, Neil was judo team captain at the Seoul Olympics.
He coached the national judo men’s team for many years and still runs masterclasses.
As an Olympian, Neil was allowed to sign a wall at the IOC headquarters in Switzerland alongside the names of many sporting legends.
After being displayed in Paris, Neil would like to present Core to the IOC to be placed in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
The IOC president has already endorsed Olympians, a book of poetry and illustrations which Neil, despite being dyslexic, produced this year.
2024 is proving quite a year for Neil as he’s just returned from celebrating his 60th birthday in New York where he was inspired to create more artwork.
He continues to exhibit his work locally, regionally and nationally and earlier this year, staged an exhibition at Lancaster Priory.