Is 20 too late to go pro?

Competing and Tournaments

My bf is obsessed with Judo, he started when he was 17 and now he’s 20 and hopes to go pro. I’m not sure how to support him in this, but doing my own research i’ve come to realize maybe it’s not something so feasible, is it?

He trains 2 hours a day 5x a week (sometimes goes to the gym in the mornings too), hasn’t won any competitions but got bronze once, is a brown belt, and lives in the UK and trains at a local club. He wishes to get to the grand prix or British open by his mid-late 20s. He doesn’t have prior martial arts training. Biggest dream is to go to the olympics! Is this feasible? I got him a surprise judo class at an extremely high ranking club for his birthday and he was upset he felt he did bad it hurt to see so I’m afraid of hurting him more.

I want to support him, but he also doesn’t have any backup plans so I’m nervous looking into this and don’t know how I can support him. His coaches are very kind and he’s sensitive to criticism, so I want to ask any professionals here what they think!

Posted Feb 18, 2026, 2:17 AM UTC

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