Jimmy Pedro

James "Jimmy" Pedro (born October 30, 1970 in Danvers , Massachusetts ) is a former American judoka . He was world champion in 1999 and won two Olympic bronze medals.

Pedro initially started in the super lightweight and won silver in this weight class at the Pan American Championships in 1988.

From 1989 to 1993 he fought at half light weight. In 1989 he won the US championships. In 1990 he was third in the Junior World Championships. At the Goodwill Games in 1990, he took second place. In October 1990 he won a bronze medal at the Pan American Championships. At the Judo World Championships in 1991 he lost to Sergei Kosmynin from the Soviet Union in the quarter-finals , but then fought his way to the bronze medal. A fortnight after the World Championships, Pedro received a bronze medal at the Pan American Games . In 1992 Pedro won the Pan American Championships. At the 1992 Olympic Games , he was eliminated from the Japanese Keiji Maruyama . A year later he was defeated by the Japanese Yukimasa Nakamura in the semifinals of the 1993 Judo World Championships and finished in fifth place.

In 1994, 1.75 m tall Jimmy Pedro was promoted to lightweight and won the bronze medal in his new weight class at the Goodwill Games. In 1995 he won the Pan American Games . At the Judo World Championships in 1995 he was defeated in the semifinals to the South Korean Kwak Dae-sung , but won the battle for bronze against the British Danny Kingston . At the 1996 Olympic Games, he lost his second fight to the Mongolian Khaliun Boldbaatar , but then won four fights in the round of hope and received a bronze medal. In 1997 and 1998 Jimmy Pedro won the Pan American Championships, in 1999 he won the Pan American Games . At the World Judo Championships in Birmingham in 1999 he won six fights, in the final he defeated the Russian Vitaly Makarov . The following year, Pedro lost his first fight against the South Korean Choi Yong-shin at the 2000 Olympic Games . After four wins in the Hope Round, he was defeated by Belarusian Anatol Larukou in the battle for bronze .

After two years without major international tournaments, Pedro returned in 2003. In 2004 he won the Pan American Championships. At the 2004 Olympic Games he won his first two fights against the Kazakhs Sagdat Sadykow and the Argentine Rodrigo Lucenti , in his third fight he was defeated by the eventual Olympic champion Lee Won-hee from South Korea. After victories in the hoping round against Belarusian Anatol Larukou , Ukrainian Hennadij Bilodid and Portuguese João Neto , Pedro defeated French Daniel Fernandes in the battle for bronze.

Jimmy Pedro coached the US team after his active career. He coached the two-time Olympic champion Kayla Harrison .

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. Chronicle IV.Soul 1988 - Atlanta 1996 . Sportverlag Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-328-00830-6 .

Web links

• Jimmy Pedro in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Jimmy Pedro on judoinside.com