Kayla Harrison named USA Today’s Olympic Athlete of the Week
Harrison joined by Team USA’s Marti Malloy taking GOLD at WORLD CUP MIAMI, as 13 US athletes medal at US Open
July 6, 2011 – Colorado Springs, CO – Add national recognition to all the medals collected by Team USA’s Kayla Harrison, who was named Olympic Athlete of the Week by USA Today following her golden victory at World Cup Miami on Saturday.
"We all are so proud of Kayla for what she's accomplished,” said Jose H. Rodriguez, USA Judo’s CEO. “Every time she climbs the podium she lifts our spirits. It is such a thrill to see a young person reach such incredible heights."
Rodriguez pointed as well to Team USA’s Marti Malloy, 57kg (USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University), another strong prospect for the Olympics in London next year, who also won a gold medal at the two-day World Cup held at the luxurious Doral Golf Resort and Spa.
Winning the World Cup gold was a particularly sweet victory for Harrison, 78kg (Team FORCE, Wakefield, Mass.), partly because it was her 21st birthday, adding the medal to a collection including the World Championships in Tokyo last fall, a pinnacle of achievement perhaps matched only by an Olympic gold. The win also may have given Harrison the international points to rank her No. 1 in the world.
Other U.S. athletes taking medals at the World Cup were Shintaro Higashi, 100kg (also Team FORCE, Wakefield, Mass.) and Angelica Delgado, 52kg (Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center in Coral Springs, FL), both of whom took bronze.
“It is a great feeling, and this has been one of the best days of my life,” Harrison said after her matches. “Not only is it my birthday and I won a World Cup, but the win may have given me enough (international) ranking points to put me in the No.1 position.”
The World Cup attracted teams from more than 50 countries, bringing the best judo competition to US soil that the country has probably ever seen, Rodriguez said. Many of those competitors remained for the US Open the next day, also held at the Doral, where US players took another 13 medals, including three gold won by Kenneth Hashimoto (San Jose, Calif.), Harry St. Leger, 81kg (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Hannah Martin (Burnt Hills, N.Y.).
“This was a great weekend for Team USA,” Rodriguez said.
For complete World Cup results, click HERE. For US Open results, click HERE.
-- Story by Ernest Pund
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