Repeats as gold medal champion in Rio

KAYLA HARRISON celebrates after winning a gold medal in judo at the Olympic Games. Harrison, who trains in Wakefield repeated as champion in the 78kg category becoming the first U.S. judoka to do so.

KAYLA HARRISON celebrates after winning a gold medal in judo at the Olympic Games. Harrison, who trains in Wakefield repeated as champion in the 78kg category becoming the first U.S. judoka to do so.

Published in the August 12, 2016 edition.

RIO DE JANEIRO — On Thursday morning, 2012 Olympic Champion Kayla Harrison woke up looking to make history by repeating her success in Rio at the Olympic Games. She did just that yesterday afternoon at Carioca Arena.

Harrison, who trains in Wakefield at Pedro’s Judo Center and who is coached by Jimmy Pedro, repeated as champion in the 78 kg division in judo with a second straight gold medal. She is the first American in the sport, male or female, to accomplish just that and the first since Pedro, the U.S. Judo team coach, to win multiple medals at the Olympic Games.

She is also the first female Judo competitor outside of Asia to successfully defend her Olympic title and the fifth overall since women’s judo became an Olympic sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Harrison, who lives in nearby Marblehead, started her day against China’s Zhang Zhehui, who is a very strong right-handed player. Harrison took her down and pinned her in just 43 seconds flat.

Her next match against Hungary’s Abigel Joo went exactly as planned. Her opponent, who is much taller than Harrison, came out thinking she could score early and control the match with her distance. This was not the case. At around the two-minute mark, Harrison was able to get her opponent down to the mat and secure the pin to win her quarterfinal match.

Harrison advanced to the semifinals against Slovenia’s Anamari Velsenek. She had been here before just four years ago. This was the match that would get her into the finals of the Olympic Games. Harrison, controlling the entire fight, was able to secure the arm lock for ippon thus getting herself into the Olympic finals for the second time. She also won that match in less than two minutes.

The final match pitted Harrison against long-time adversary Audrey Tcheumeo of France. Harrison has squared off against the French women eight times, previously beating her four times throughout her career. Evenly matched heading into the finals, Harrison came out strong attacking four times within the first 40 seconds. She wasn’t able to score but it was very evident that the French woman was slowing down and fading away as the clock counted down. Tcheumeo racked up two penalties before Harrison won the match with another armbar submission with six seconds left.

The 26-year old overcame a major knee injury with reconstructive surgery and had to work hard to repeat. Harrison made history as a result and announced her retirement as well to end her career as a two-time Olympic champion.