| Member News
August 11, 2007
Chuck Jefferson Defeats Olympic Medalist to Win Bronze at German Open
Josh O’Neil Places Fifth in New Weight Division
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Chuck Jefferson (far right) receives his medal in the 73kg division. |
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Jefferson receives a hug and congratulations from Team USA after his bronze medal win. |
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Jefferson (white). |
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Marti Malloy (blue) vs. Esther Stam. |
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Natalie Lafon (white) vs. Tatiana Moskvina. |
(Colorado Springs, Colo.)
– Five years is a long
time in judo. Champions are made and
lost. Top-ranked players win, lose, win
again and retire in that amount of time.
For Chuck Jefferson
(San Jose
,
Calif.
/ USA
Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University), five years is
how long it had been since he’d seen the view from the podium of a major
European tournament – until Saturday when he won bronze in the 73kg division at
the German Open.
“I’m happy with my performance today. I haven’t gotten a medal in Europe in a long
time and I think this was a break through that will hopefully mean good things
down the road,” said Jefferson whose last medal win in
Europe
was at the Rome World Cup in 2002.
Far from being any old European Tournament, the German Open
has historically become the unofficial tune-up for the World Championships and
has been known to rival World Cups in both size and difficulty.
Jefferson had both in a 67-person division where he needed
six matches and wins against an Olympic medalist and a top-five placer at the
2005 Worlds to earn bronze.
“I really just had to take it one
match at a time. You look at the bracket
sheets early in the day, but with nearly 70 guys, it’s impossible to look at
all the good players because there’s too many. You just have to worry about who’s in front of you each time,”
Jefferson
said.
After a first-round bye, Jefferson defeated Iain Feenan (GBR) and Maxat Mazibayev (KAZ) to advance to the
third round against Claudiu Bastea (ROM),
a nine-time World Cup medalist who placed fifth at the 2005 World Championships
in
Cairo
.
Jefferson
threw Bastea with
a one-handed sumi gaeshi (sacrifice throw) 17 seconds into the match.
In the quarter-finals,
Jefferson
nearly found himself in overtime against Pawel
Zydak (POL). Jefferson went for an
armbar at the end of the match and when Zydak tapped
Jefferson
looked up to see that there was only one second left on the clock.
Jefferson
’s next match was
a semifinal against Zaza Kedelashvili
(GEO), the two-time reigning European Champion at 66kg. The Georgian leg-picked
Jefferson
for the yuko (quarter-point) and koka (smallest points) scores that would win
him the match.
In the bronze medal round,
Jefferson
fought a tactical match against Vsevolods
Zelonijs (LAT), a bronze medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games and 1997 World
Championships.
With just over a minute remaining in the match,
Jefferson
was down two penalties to one when he threw
Zelonijs with a sumi to score a yuko. Zolonijs couldn’t score on Jefferson for the remainder of the match and
Jefferson
won bronze.
“The division was loaded with
good players today and it felt really good to come through and beat some
quality players,”
Jefferson
said.
For Josh O’Neil
(Colorado Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the Olympic
Training
Center),
the German Open represented a new kind of challenge.
Often a top-five player in the
66kg division, with less than a year to go to the Olympic Games, O’Neil made
the risky decision to move down to 60kg at one of the toughest tournaments in
Europe.
The risk paid off handsomely as O’Neil
proved he could compete with many of the best players in the world.
After a first-round bye, O’Neil
threw Sjoerd Diemel (NED) and Olegs Filipovs (LAT) for ippon (instant
win) in his next two matches, both with kata gurumas (fireman’s carries).
In his third match, O’Neil threw Salamat Utarbayev (KAZ) for a koka score. O’Neil then scored again with a te guruma
(hand wheel throw) for a yuko against Utarbayev, a two-time European medalist
who placed fifth at the 2005 World Championships.
O’Neil’s day got even harder in the semis when he and Ruslan Kishmakhov (RUS), the #2-ranked
player in the world, went into Golden Score. Nearly nine-minutes into the match, Kishmakhov caught O’Neil with a kata
guruma throw for a yuko score to win the match.
Down by a yuko in the bronze medal match against Denniss Kozlovs (LAT), O’Neil went in
for a sumi gaeshi, but as he went down to his back for the throw, Kozlovs was
awarded the score as an ippon, leaving O’Neil to finish fifth.
“I’m very proud of the team’s performance today,” said USA
Judo Elite U-23 Team Coach Jimmy Pedro
(Methuen, Mass.)
“This was not an easy tournament by any
means. If you look at the pools or were
at the event, you saw that it was all the big names. Everyone fought well and even the ones that
got beat were all in the matches.”
Coming off a fifth-place finish at the Pan American Games, Marti Malloy
(San Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San
Jose
State
University)
placed ninth in the 63kg
division.
Malloy fought former Paris World Cup and European
Championships medalist Claudia Malzahn
(GER) in the first round, but was thrown for ippon. Malzahn pulled Malloy through to the
repechage where she was down by a waza-ari (half-point), but came back to
armbar Esther Stam (NED) for the
win. In her next match, Malloy fought 2004
Olympic silver medalist Claudia Heill
(AUT), taking Heill to overtime before losing on a penalty.
Janine Nakao (San
Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University) moved
down from 63kg where she won bronze at Senior Nationals to 57kg, beating
throwing Nicole Fischer (GER) first
for a yuko score with an uchimata (inner thigh throw) and then again with a
seoi nage (shoulder throw) for ippon just over a minute into the first
round. In the second round, however,
Nakao lost by a yuko to 2006 German Open medalist Gabrielle Deflorenne. In the
repechage, Nakao lost to Liraz Ben Melech (ISR) to finish ninth.
The remainder of the
U.S.
competitors all went winless
in their opening matches.
Anna Palmer (Colorado
Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training
Center) fought up from the 52kg division where she won bronze at the Senior
Nationals to the 57kg division, but lost by ippon in the first round to Marlen Hein (GER).
Angelica Delgado (Miami,
Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami), the top-ranked U.S.
junior in the 57kg division, lost early in the first round to two-time World
Cup medalist Tatiana Shushakova (RUS).
Reigning
U.S.
Open Champion Bobby Lee
(Coral Springs
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami)
lost
after a first-round bye to Ali Maloomat
(IRI). After being up by a yuko, Lee
lost by ippon in the fourth minute.
Former 90kg National Champions Dariusz Mikolajczak (
Brooklyn
,
N.Y.
/ Spartak Sports Club) and Garry St. Leger
(Brooklyn
,
N.Y.
/ Starrett Judo) both
lost in their opening rounds. Mikolajczak
lost to Stefan Krause (GER) by a
yuko and a waza-ari while St. Leger lost to two-time World Cup medalist Dominique
Hischier (SUI) on
penalties.
Atsushi Yoshinaga
(San
Jose
,
Calif.
/ USA Judo National
Training Site at San Jose State University) also competed in the 90kg division, losing by ippon early in his first
round to Robert Dumke (GER).
Daniel McCormick
(Wakefield
,
Mass.
/ USA Judo National Team FORCE), a +100kg Senior National medalist, was
down by a yuko before losing by ippon with a minute remaining in his match
against Tino Bierau (GER), a
medalist at the 2006 Junior Worlds.
A trio of 48kg players all lost in their opening rounds as
well. Former Pan Am medalist Sayaka Matsumoto
(El Cerrito, Calif.
/ NYAC / East Bay Judo Institute) lost by a pair of kokas after a
first-round bye to Rony Shwartz (ISR). After being down by a yuko, Ann Shiraishi (Elk Grove, Calif. / East Bay
Judo Institute) lost to Stephanie Panitz
(GER) by ippon in the third minute.
A two-time Senior Nationals silver medalist in the 52kg
division, Natalie Lafon
(Harlingen,
Texas
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
Harlingen)
moved down
to 48kg for the first time this weekend. Lafon went the full five minutes with five-time European medalist Tatiana Moskvina (BLR), but lost by a
waza-ari.
Competition continues on Sunday with the women’s 52kg, 70kg
and 78kg divisions and the men’s 66kg, 81kg and 100kg divisions.
Ronda Rousey
(Wakefield
,
Mass.
/ NYAC /
USA
Judo National Team FORCE) will be competing in her first European event
since winning the Vienna World Cup in February. The win came at Rousey’s first event as a 70kg player after moving up
from 63kg. The #1 player in the United
States at both 63kg and 70kg, Rousey should be confident after her Pan American
Games win in July, but will have a difficult division that includes three World
and Olympic medalists: Edith Bosch (NED),
2005 World Champion and 2004 Olympic silver medalist; Rasa Sraka (SLO), 2005 World medalist and Annett Boehm (GER), 2004 Olympic and 2003 World medalist.
Four of the five top-ranked players in the
United States
in the 66kg division all will be
competing in
Germany
. Justin
Flores
(Glenville,
N.Y.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at the
Jason
Morris
Judo
Center)
has had
previous success at European tournaments, placing fifth at three World Cups,
including the Warsaw World Cup in March. Taylor Takata
(Colorado
Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the Olympic
Training
Center
) has placed at the British
Open. Kenny Hashimoto
(San Jose
,
Calif.
/ USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose
State University) and Nate Torra (El
Cerrito, Calif. / NYAC / East Bay Judo Institute) have both medaled at
B-Level Tournaments in North America, but are still looking to break through at
a European major event. The 66kg
division also will include a strong international contingent, including: Miklos Ungvari (HUN), 2005 World
medalist; Zaza Kedelashvili (GEO), the #1-ranked player in the world and Craig Fallon (GBR), the 2005 World
Champion and 2006 European Champion at 60kg.
All four of the 2007 Senior National medalists in the 81kg
division will be fighting on Sunday, including Pan American Games Champion Travis Stevens (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo
National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) and five-time Pan
American Championships medalist Aaron
Cohen (Buffalo Grove, Ill. / NYAC / Cohen’s Judo). Cohen won his first European medal at the
B-Level Swiss Open in April. Stevens
will be looking for his first European medal, but has defeated top players this
year, including his win over 2004 Olympic medalist Flavio Canto (BRA) at the Pan Am Games. The two will be joined by Senior National
bronze medalists Harry St. Leger
(Brooklyn, N.Y. / Starrett Judo) and Andrew
Hung (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State
University). The international favorites in the division
include Roman Gontyuk (UKR), 2005
World bronze medalist and 2004 Olympic silver medalist; and Euan Burton (GBR), 2005 and 2007
European medalist.
Complete results are as follows:
Women’s 48kg
1. Alina Dumitru (ROM)
2. Michaela Baschin (GER)
3. Ludmila Bogdanova (RUS)
3. Roni Scharcz (ISR)
5. Eva Csernoviczky (HUN)
5. Kelbet Nurgazina (KAZ)
7. Lioudmila Lusnikova (UKR)
7. Olga Sukha (UKR)
Also Competed: Sayaka
Matsumoto (
El Cerrito
,
Calif.
/ NYAC / East Bay Judo Institute), 0-1; Ann Shiraishi (
Elk
Grove
,
Calif.
/ East Bay Judo
Institute), 0-1 and Natalie Lafon (
Harlingen
,
Texas
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
Harlingen
),
0-1
Women’s 57kg
1. Yvonne Boenisch (GER)
2. Sabrina Filzmoser (AUT)
3.
Lena
Goeldi (SUI)
3. Marlen Hein (GER)
5. Gabrielle Deflorenne (FRA)
5. Liraz Ben Belech (ISR)
7. Tatiana Shushakova (TKM)
7. Viola Waechter (GER)
Also Competed: Janine
Nakao (
San Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at
San Jose
State
University
), 1-2; Anna Palmer (
Colorado Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at the Olympic
Training
Center
), 0-1 and Angelica Delgado (
Miami
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North
Miami
), 0-1
Women’s 63kg
1. Urska Zolnir (SLO)
2. Alice Schlesinger (ISR)
3. Claudia Malzahn (GER)
3. Claudia Heill (AUT)
5. Lioubov Belskaia (RUS)
5. Claudia Ahrens (GER)
7. Johanna Ylinen (FIN)
7. Juliane Robra (SUI)
Also Competed: Marti
Malloy (
San Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at
San Jose
State
University
),
1-2
Women’s +78kg
1. Sandra Koeppen (GER)
2. Katrin Dittrich (GER)
3. Tea Dongouzashvili (RUS)
3. Luciia Polavder (SLO)
5. Franziska Konitz (GER)
5. Verena Birndorfer (GER)
7. Karina Bryant (GBR)
7. Elena Ivashchenko (RUS)
Men’s 60kg
1. Ludwig Paischer (AUT)
2. Ruslan Kishmaov (RUS)
3. Salamat Utarbayev (KAZ)
3. Denniss Kozlovs (LAT)
5. Josh O’Neil
(Colorado Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at the Olympic
Training
Center)
5. Betkil Shukvani (GEO)
7. Leon Borgsteede (NED)
7. Boris Trupka (GER)
Men’s 73kg
1. RInat Ibragimov (KAZ)
2. Zaza Kedelashvili (GEO)
3. Chuck Jefferson (
San Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San
Jose
State
University
)
3. Tomasz Krecielewski (POL)
5. Claudiu Bastea (ROM)
5. Vsevolods Zelonijs (LAT)
7. Dmitri Mjakinin (RUS)
7. Ali Malootmat (IRI)
Also Competed: Bobby Lee (
Coral Springs
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North
Miami
), 0-1
Men’s 90kg
1. Mark Huizinga (NED)
2. Sergei Aschwanden (SUI)
3. Winston Gordon (GBR)
3. Viktor Semenov (RUS)
5. Euan Burton (GBR)
5. Mohamed El Asri (MAR)
7. Kasambi Taov (RUS)
7. Taguir Khaibulaev (RUS)
Also Competed: Dariusz Mikolajczak (
Brooklyn
,
N.Y.
/ Spartak Sports Club), 0-1; Garry St.
Leger (
Brooklyn
,
N.Y.
/ Starrett Judo), 0-1; and Atsushi Yoshinaga (
San
Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San Jose
State
University
),
0-1
Men’s +100kg
1. Martin Padar (EST)
2. Barna Bor (HUN)
3. Grim Vuijsters (NED)
3. Aleksandr Mikhailine (RUS)
5. Tamerlan Tmenov (RUS)
5. Fabian Hubert (GER)
7. Tino Bierau (GER)
Also Competed: Daniel McCormick (
Wakefield
,
Mass.
/
USA
Judo National Team FORCE), 0-1
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