(Tokyo, Japan) – Every Olympic hopeful dreams of one day hearing the Star Spangled Banner from the top of a podium. 

For 20-year-old Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), that goal seemed far away when she first started competing in judo as a 7-year-old in Middletown, Ohio.

“I’ve been training for this for a long long time and I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a little girl,” Harrison said after winning the 78kg title at the World Championships on Thursday in Tokyo.  “It hasn’t sunk in yet.  It’s an amazing feeling.  It’s surreal.  And everyone’s been amazing.  My teammates, my coaches… Everyone’s been amazing and I’m really thankful.”

Coached by the last American to win a World title in 1999, Jimmy Pedro (Methuen, Mass.), Harrison went undefeated in five matches to become one of just four U.S. players to win the World Championships with both Pedro and 1987 World Champion Mike Swain (San Jose, Calif.) in attendance for the historic event.

Kayla Harrison receives her gold medal...  and the $6,000 prize check.

“It was Kayla’s time.  She’s coming off four gold medals at World Cups.  When the draw came out I said it that day that she’s gonna come through and we’ve been putting in her head that she’s gonna be the World Champ,” said Coach Pedro.  “She was ready and we all believed in her.  She went out there knowing she could win and that’s a big part of having success.”

Harrison won three matches during the morning preliminary sessions to advance to the semifinals.  After defeating two-time World Cup medalist Luise Malzahn (GER) by three yuko scores (quarter point each), she threw Ana Velensek (SLO) for a quick ippon (instant win) in the first minute of their second-round match.

In the quarter-finals, Harrison fought a tactical match against four-time World and 2000 Olympic medalist Celine Lebrun (FRA) who she defeated by two penalties to one. 

After winning her match against Lebrun, Harrison had a three hour break before taking on 2009 World silver medalist Maryna Pryshchepa (UKR) who Harrison threw for a yuko score two minutes into the match.  During the third minute, Harrison pinned Pryshchepa with a triangle hold for 15 seconds to earn a yuko score.  As the clock wore down, she locked in a choke to win the match and advance to the final.

A four-time World Cup Champion and gold medalist at the 2008 Junior Worlds, Harrison fought Mayra Aguiar (BRA) in the final. 

Kayla Harrison throws Mayra Aguiar to win gold!

Two of the rising stars of the sport, Harrison and 19-year-old Aguiar are both World Cup and Junior World medalists who have fought twice this year with Aguiar winning their match at the Pan American Championships in April and Harrison winning their match at the Sao Paulo World Cup in May.

The match started slowly with both athletes fighting for grips and Harrison receiving a stalling penalty with just over a minute remaining in the match.

As the five-minute regulation time ended, neither athlete was able to score and the match was sent to Golden Score (sudden death overtime). 

Nearly two minutes into Golden Score, Harrison threw Aguiar for a yuko score to win the match.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to win and I was nervous because we were in Golden Score and I was down by a shido, so I had to do something,” she said.  “So I just went for it and it worked.” 

After defeating five players that included World Cup, World Championship and Olympic medalists, Harrison remained humble about her achievement. 

“I don’t think I had the best day of my life, but I went out to win and that’s what matters,” she said.  

Following the match, Pedro praised both Harrison’s wins and her work ethic.

“In the end she came through.  Without question it’s deserved.  She puts in time, pays dues.  She

Kayla Harrison shows off her gold medal to Coach Jimmy Pedro and USA Judo Director of Athlete Performance Eddie Liddie

 never skips practice, always makes lifting sessions, wants to do whatever it takes.  She’s truly deserves to be a World Champion,” Pedro said.  “She’s appreciative of everything, deserving of everything, the type of person you want to help reach her goals.”

In addition to the achievement of winning a World title, Harrison also earned qualification points for the 2012 Olympic Games. 

“This is a great milestone for USA Judo and key for helping Kayla qualify for London.  We’ve all seen her grow up and come through the junior rankings and you could tell even when she was fighting Junior Nationals for all those years that she had something special, that extra work ethic and desire to win that’s necessary to become a champion.  She works harder than almost anybody in the world and this is the payoff for all of it,” said USA Judo Director of Athlete Performance Eddie Liddie (Colorado Springs, Colo.)  “The USA Judo Team came out to support her tonight and I think her success really sets the tone for the rest of the event.” 

Earlier in the day, 20-year-old Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) earned one of the day’s greatest upsets when he threw 2007 World Champion Luciano Correa (BRA) for ippon during his first-round match after trailing by two penalties.  

“It was a little overwhelming.  When I threw him I didn’t know if it was for ippon or not and after I saw it was, it was kind of an uncomfortable position to celebrate.  Besides, it was only the first round.  I didn’t want to be that guy who goes crazy and I knew I still had a tough match with the Cuban ahead,” Vashkulat said. 

In the next round, Vashkulat faced 2007 World bronze medalist Oreydis Despaigne (CUB).

“[The first round] was a little confidence booster, but every match is its own thing and you have to focus on the next one.  I’d fought the Cuban before and I knew it was going to be hard,” he said.

Vashkulat held his own against Despaigne, but was thrown for a waza-ari score.  After escaping a pin attempted, Vashkulat was thrown again for ippon.

“Every year you hope to medal.  Next year the goal is always to try to come back and do better than before.  I’m still kinda young so I have time to develop and get better each time,” Vashkulat said.

Also competing for the first time at the Worlds in the 100kg division, Shintaro Higashi (Scarsdale, N.Y. / NYAC / Kokushi) lost to Sun-Woo Park (KOR) by three penalties to two.

Three other first-time World Team members also were eliminated in the opening rounds.

Suzie Rizek (Naperville, Ill. / Fox Valley Judo) was thrown for a yuko and pinned by 2008 Olympic silver medalist Yalennis Castillo (CUB) in the 78kg division.

Conor Driscoll (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University) was down by two yuko scores in the +100kg division against Matjaz Ceraj (SLO) when Ceraj threw him for a waza-ari score before moving into a pin for the win.

Toni Geiger (Dumont, N.J. / Tech Judo) was thrown for ippon by Urszula Zadkowska (POL) in the +78kg division.

Also competing in the +78kg division, two-time World Team member Nina Cutro-Kelly (San Antonio, Texas / Universal Judo) was thrown for a waza-ari score and then pinned by Qian Qin (CHN).

Beijing Olympian Daniel McCormick (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) had a first-round bye in the heavyweight division, but lost in the second round to Walter Santos (BRA) by four penalties after Santos threw McCormick for a yuko score.

Competition continues on Friday with the men’s 81kg and 90kg divisions and the women’s 70kg division.

The following athletes will be competing on Friday:

Men’s 81kg
Travis Stevens (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE), four-time World Cup medalist and four-time Pan American medalist
Jose Bencosme (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University), 2009 U.S. Open Champion

Men’s 90kg
Jake Larsen (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), two-time World Cup medalist
Garry St. Leger (Brooklyn, N.Y. / NYAC / Legrossports Starrett), 2010 USA World Cup bronze medalist 

Women’s 70kg
Katie Sell (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center), three-time World Cup medalist
Laquinta Allen (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. / Onikusu Judo), 2010 Senior Nationals bronze medalist