Member News

July 23, 2007

My final thoughts of this edition of the Pan Am Games held in Brazil are happy and proud ones. Team USA pulled together (USOC staff, USA Judo staff & athletes) to turn in one of the best Pan Am Games results in our history which included three gold despite the growing difficulty of judo worldwide. This result bodes well for the confidence of our team leading into the World Championships as we go back to Rio in September. A couple of moments stick out for me during the Games.

Jeanette Rodriguez celebrating her 17th birthday with a bronze medal performance... Travis
Stevens beating the wildly popular Flavio Canto in the semis... Watching Ryan Reser dismantle the Brazilian in the 73kg final... Seeing the incredible Jesus statue up close and the view from sugar loaf and finally the return to the Albany airport to see all the young JMJC faces and their enthusiasm for Justin Flores and Travis. Although, there is always room for improvement for these athletes and the staff as well, the U.S. team continues on the upward swing as they are doing many things in the correct way.