USA Judo announces athlete and staff nominations to the Tokyo 2020 United States Olympic and Paralympic Teams

Today USA Judo announced its athlete and staff nominations to the Tokyo 2020 United States Olympic and Paralympic Teams. All nominations are subject to final approval by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Following a three-year Olympic qualification process, on June 22, 2021, the International Judo Federation released the final ranking list which saw 2016 U.S. Olympians Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla./Coconut Creek, Fla./Ki-itsu-sai National Training Site/New York Athletic Club/Florida International University/under 52kg, female/Qualified) and Colton Brown (Piscataway, N.J./Bridgewater, N.J./New York Athletic Club/San Jose State University/under 90kg male/Continental quota) both secure their entry into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (IJF Press Release).

Upon the conclusion of the IJF’s initial Olympic invitation, confirmation and reallocation process USA Judo received two additional Olympic invitations for Nefeli Papadakis (Gurnee, Ill./Wolf Judo Club/ College of Lake County/DeVry University /under 78kg female) and Nina Cutro-Kelly (Albany, N.Y./Selma, Texas/Universal Judo/ Universite de Pennes - Pennes, France/over 78kg female) bringing the Tokyo 2020 U.S. Olympic Team - Judo to four. Coaches for the team will be Jhonny Prado (Coral Springs, Fla./ Ki-itsu-sai National Training Site) and Justin Flores (Carlsbad, Calif./Studio 540).

Per the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification system for Judo, the sport entry deadline for is Monday, July 5, 2021.

Review the full Tokyo 2020 Olympic Team qualification system for Judo.

Judo Olympic Schedule.

Just over three weeks following the Olympic judo event, Tokyo 2020 will also host the Paralympic judo tournament also in the famous Nippon Budokan. Three USA Judo visually impaired athletes earned the right to represent their country based on their final ranking in the International Blind Sports Federation Tokyo 2020 Paralympic ranking list. Leading the team will be 2016 U.S. Paralympian Ben Goodrich (St. Paul, Minn./Colorado Springs, Colo./CSOPTC Judo Club/University of Minnesota/under 100kg male). Goodrich will be joined by Maria Liana Mutia (Chicago, Ill./under 63kg female) and Robert Tanaka (Denver, Colo./Los Angeles, Calif./ Ju Shin Kan, Denver Judo and Sawtelle Judo /University of Southern California/under 66kg male). The team will be coached by Heidi Moore and her husband Stephen Scott Moore a three-time Paralympic medalist ((2000 Gold, 1996 Bronze and 2004 Bronze) whom together run the Denver Judo Club in Denver, Colo. Marc Vink (Riverton, N.J.) will serve as Team Leader.

Review the full Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Team qualification system for Judo.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic judo tournament will take place August 27-29, 2021 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan (Judo Paralympic Schedule).