Member News

September 12, 2006

Team USA Departs Wednesday for World Championships by Team of Nation

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Women’s Judo Team will compete Saturday at the World Championships by Team of Nation in Paris, France.

The seven-member team leaves Wednesday for the world’s most elite team judo event.  Fourteen nations are expected to compete in the women’s tournament, including judo powerhouses Japan, Russia, Cuba, China and France. 

The team competition features head-to-head matches in dual meet formats.  For example, if Team USA drew France in the first round, seven fights would be held between the correlating weight divisions of each country – 48kg vs. 48kg, 52kg vs. 52kg, etc.

The team with the most wins of the seven matches then advances to the next round in a double repechage elimination system.

Team USA is led by experienced competitor Valerie Gotay (Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site / 57kg).  Thirty-two-year-old Gotay, a 1992 Olympian who retired after the Barcelona Games, was a member of the 2005 World Championships and a gold medalist at last year’s Pan American Championships.

In addition to Gotay, the team is well-represented with athletes from the Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site, including Gotay’s younger sister Natalie Lafon who will be competing in the 52kg division.  Like Gotay, 25-year-old Lafon retired from the sport as a teenager, but came back in 2004, eventually rising to the #2 ranking in the United States.

A newcomer to the Harlingen facility, Katie Sell (70kg) also will be competing in her first major senior international event.  Sell, the top-ranked junior in her division, is a bronze medalist at the 2006 Senior National Championships.

Molly O’Rourke (El Cerrito, Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute) is one of the more seasoned competitors on the squad.  A bronze medalist at the 2005 Pan American Championships and fifth-place finisher at this year’s A-Level Birmingham (Great Britain) World Cup, O’Rourke also was a member of the 2005 World Championship Team.

Ann Shiraishi (Elk Grove, Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute / Okubo / APOA Judo Club / 48kg), a gold medalist at last year’s Irish Open and fifth place finisher at the British Open, will be competing on her first Senior National Team this weekend.

Kristen Allan (Springfield, Va. / Sport Judo / 63kg), a silver medalist at the 2005 and 2006 Senior National Championships, also will be competing on her first Senior National Team.

Brittni Bradford (Land O’Lakes, Fla. / St. Pete Judo) will represent the United States in the +78kg division.  At 17-years-old, Bradford is the youngest member of the team and also will be competing at the Junior World Championships, Oct. 12-15 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 

The team is being coached by Israel Hernandez (Harlingen, Texas), a two-time Olympic medalist from Cuba.  Hernandez is the Head Coach of the Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site where he trains three of the team members: Gotay, Lafon and Sell. 

Hernandez coached his first U.S. international team in May at the Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires where Team USA won six medals at the first of four Olympic qualifiers.

Prior to working with USA Judo, Hernandez had a wealth of success working with athletes in Cuba and Spain, including coaching two World Championship medalists and leading his athletes to more than a dozen Pan American medals.

"USA Judo is fortunate to have the caliber of coach that Israel Hernandez is leading our women's team in Paris,” said USA Judo CEO Jose H. Rodriguez (Colorado Springs, Colo.)  “I watched Israel work his magic in Buenos Aires coaching our athletes.  He got them fired up, and it was obvious that he had our athletes' attention.  I look forward to what coach Hernandez will be able to do not only in Paris with this women's team, but what he will be able to do with the athletes he is now coaching in 2007 and 2008. Very soon we will begin to hear more about what is happening in Harlingen in Judo and our USA Judo family will begin to know that the program he now leads is for real."

Also joining the delegation are referees Dr. Gary Berliner (Cumming, Ga.) and Kei Narimatsu (Geneva, Ill.), team manager Devin Cohen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and team trainer Takenari Asanuma (El Cerrito, Calif.)