ANDOVER Olympic judo star Kate Howey was pleased with her performance on BBC's Superstars show last night despite not winning.

The 30-year-old was not too down-hearted as she had just learnt she will be competing in next year's Olympic games in Athens.

On Superstars, the British judo champion competed against athletes Zoe Baker, Leander Cave, Annabel Croft, Fiona May, Liz McColgan, Lesley McKenna and Katharine Merry.

They competed against each other in a wide range of disciplines including gym tests, which involved squats and dips, kayak racing, mountain biking, archery and tennis, collecting points according to their score or time.

"It was very good fun. I didn't win but I did alright," said Kate

Zoe Baker and Lesley McKenna were joint winners with 37 points and Howey came fifth with 20 points.

She said: "Going from judo to archery is a bit of a nightmare because I didn't have much practise.

Former men's champion Brian Jacks gave Howey some training tips, which she said came in useful on the dips.

"Before the filming it went really well but when you are put on the spot you start shaking. Archery was probably the hardest," she added.

Howey was world champion at 70kg in 1997, won Olympic bronze in 1992, reached the quarter-final in 1996, took Olympic silver in 2000 and has also received an MBE from the Queen.

After graduating from Bath University, she is now coaching and will start training for next year's Olympic games.