Member News
October 15, 2007
Former Champions Return to the
U.S.
Open in
Georgia
This Weekend
to Compete in
U.S.
Olympic Team Trials – Judo Qualifier
(Colorado Springs,
Colo.)
– In addition to the more
than 200 international players expected to compete at the U.S. Open in
Duluth
,
Ga.
this weekend, another 250 Americans will be competing both for the title of
U.S. Open Champion as well as for berths at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials
for Judo as a medal win in Georgia nearly guarantees a trip to the Trials.
Among the top
U.S.
players to watch when the senior divisions compete this Friday and Saturday at
the
Gwinnett
Center
are World medalists, reigning
U.S. Open and National Champions, Olympians and 12 of the #1-ranked players in
the nation.
At least 11 former U.S. Open champions will be returning to
compete this weekend, including six 2006 Champions.
Ronda Rousey
(Wakefield, Mass.
/
USA
Judo
National Team FORCE) is the two-time reigning U.S. Open Champion in the
63kg weight division. The 20-year-old
former Junior World Champion moved up to 70kg earlier this year and, coming off
a silver win at the World Championships last month is a favorite to win her
third title.
Brian Olson
(Boulder,
Colo.
/ NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), a
1997 World medalist, is a five-time U.S. Open Champion (1992, 1996, 1998, 1999,
2002) who will be using this year’s U.S. Open as his first return to
competition since retiring after his fourth Olympic Games in 2004. Once of the top players in the world in the
90kg division, Olson is making a comeback attempt with his eyes set on winning
a medal at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Valerie Gotay
(Harlingen,
Texas
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
Harlingen)
is a
two-time reigning Champion in the 57kg division and favored for a third
consecutive title. The 33-year-old
mother of two won two previous gold medals as a teenager in the 48kg division
in 1989 and 1990. Gotay would go on to
qualify for the 1992 Olympic Games before retiring at 18-years-old. Gotay made an amazing comeback to the sport
in 2004 and has since ascended to the #6-ranking in her division in the
world.
Ryan Reser
(Colorado Springs,
Colo.
/
USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), the #9
player in the world in the 73kg division, won the Open in 1999 and 2004. A medalist at every U.S. Open since 2003,
Reser is the reigning Pan Am Games Champion.
One of Reser’s toughest opponents in the
United States,
Chuck Jefferson
(San Jose,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San
Jose
State
University)
won the U.S. Open in
2003 and placed second at the event last year.
Jefferson lost in the finals of the 2006 Open to then
17-year-old Bobby Lee (
Coral
Springs
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami
) who also
won the Pan Am Junior Championships earlier that year.
Travis Stevens (
Glenville
,
N.Y.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Jason
Morris
Judo
Center
) won his first international event at the 2006 Open when he beat
then-top-ranked Aaron Cohen (
Buffalo Grove
,
Ill.
/ NYAC / Cohen’s Judo) in the finals of the 81kg division. The top seed in the division this year,
Stevens went on to win the Pan American Games in July.
Justin Flores (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) is a near constant figure in the 66kg finals, winning in 2003 and placing second in 1997, 2001 and 2006.
An emotional Katie
Mocco (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason
Morris Judo Center) won the 2005 U.S. Open in the 70kg where she gave a
now-famous thank-you speech to her coach Jason
Morris. A Pan Am medalist in the
division, Mocco moved up to 78kg earlier this year.
It was her win at the 2006 U.S. Open that moved Jeanette Rodriguez (
Coral
Springs
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami
) into the
#1 ranking in the 48kg division. Rodriguez
also won the event in 2004 in the 44kg division. Now 17-years-old, Rodriguez has competed on
the biggest stages in the world, medaling at the Pan American Games and earning
one of the best records for the
U.S.
women at the World Championships, both in
Rio
de Janeiro
.
Seventeen-year-old Kayla
Harrison (
Wakefield
,
Mass.
/ USA Judo National Team FORCE) won her first U.S. Open title in the
non-Olympic Open division the day after winning a silver medal at 70kg. A bronze medalist in the 63kg division in
2005, Harrison moved back down to the lighter weight earlier this year and will
be looking for another gold.
The youngest gold medalist in 2006, 16-year-old Taylor Ibera (
Honolulu
,
Hawaii
/
Hawaii
Tenri) is now the reigning Senior
National Champion as well in the 44kg division. Although 44kg is not an Olympic weight, most currently ranked 48kg
players came through the 44kg senior ranks.
Other players to watch this weekend include:
- Taraje Williams-Murray (
Bronx
,
N.Y.
/ NYAC / Spartak Sports Club / 60kg), four-time National Champion
- Josh O’Neil (
Colorado
Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Olympic
Training
Center
/ 60kg),
2007 German Open fifth-place finisher
- Justin Flores (
Glenville
,
N.Y.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Jason
Morris
Judo
Center
/ 66kg), 2007 Warsaw World Cup fifth-place finisher
- Kenny Hashimoto (
San
Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San Jose
State
University
/ 66kg), 2006
U.S.
Open bronze medalist
- Taylor Takata (
Colorado
Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Olympic
Training
Center
/ 66kg),
2006 Pan Am fifth-place finisher
- Aaron Cohen (
Buffalo Grove
,
Ill.
/ NYAC / Cohen’s Judo / 81kg), five-time Pan Am medalist
- Garry St. Leger (
Brooklyn
,
N.Y.
/ NYAC / Starrett Judo / 90kg), 2007 Pan Am Championships medalist
- Rick Hawn (
Wakefield
,
Mass.
/
USA
Judo National Team FORCE /
90kg), 2007 Pan Am Games medalist
- Shintaro Higashi (
Scarsdale
,
N.Y.
/ NYAC / Kokushi Budo Institute of
New York
/ 100kg),
2007 Senior National Champion
- Adler Volmar (
Coral
Springs
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami
/ 100kg),
2007 Senior Nationals silver medalist
- Kirk Hoffmann (
Colorado
Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Olympic
Training
Center
/ +100kg),
two-time Pan Am Championships medalist
- Anthony Turner (
Miami
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North
Miami
/ +100kg), 2007 Senior Nationals silver
medalist
- Sayaka Matsumoto (
El Cerrito
,
Calif.
/ NYAC / East Bay Judo Institute / 48kg), seven-time National Champion
- Anna Palmer (
Colorado
Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Olympic
Training
Center / 52kg
), 2007
Senior Nationals medalist
- Marti Malloy (
San
Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San Jose
State
University
/ 63kg), ninth-place finisher at the 2007 World Championships
- Nina Cutro-Kelly (
San Antonio
,
Texas
/ Universal Judo / 78kg), 2007 Senior Nationals silver medalist
- Heidi Moore (
Englewood
,
Colo.
/
Denver
Judo), 2007 Senior Nationals
silver medalist
- Brittni Bradford (
San Antonio
,
Texas
/ Universal Judo / +78kg), 2007 Senior Nationals bronze medalist
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