A U.S. wrestler won an Olympic bronze medal on August 16, which is pretty difficult because the Olympic wrestling competition does not start until August 22.    

That wrestler is Jimmy Pedro of Methuen, Mass., who was a captain of the Brown University wrestling team and won an EIWA title during his college career.    

Of course, Pedro won his bronze medal in judo, the sport where he has become a superstar. Pedro was third at the 73 kg weight class, becoming the first U.S. judo player to ever win two Olympic medals. He was also a bronze medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.   

 In between Olympic medals, Pedro was a World Champion in judo in 1999. He followed that with a disappointing fifth place at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. After going into retirement for a few years, Pedro came back for another shot at the Olympic gold he wanted badly. Although he did not reach that goal, his bronze medal was a great achievement and something to be proud of.    

"I am the happiest guy alive," said Pedro. "It's a dream come true. It is a perfect ending to my career. I had a burning desire to win. It was one of the most incredible days of my life."    

Judo competes each weight class in just one day. Jimmy Pedro's entire Olympic competition was today.     

Pedro won six bouts and lost only one. He was defeated in the third round by 2003 World Champion Won Hee Lee of Korea. He battled back with four more wins to take a bronze. In judo, they award two bronze medals in each division.   

He didn't just win. He pinned his last four guys. According to judo press officer John Miller, his last two opponents tapped out while getting pinned. Miller said Pedro just crushed these people.

Pedro has a work ethic, no doubt about it. He sounds like a wrestler when explaining how he responded to his disappointing loss to the world champion (and eventual Olympic champion) to come back to get the bronze.    

"I dug deep," said Pedro. "It comes from training. It allows you to go to the well, dig deep and get it done. It comes from my family. That is the way I was brought up. That is how I have always trained. I earned every one of my victories. Nothing is ever given to you. At the end of the day, I am somebody who deserves it."   

 Wrestling fans should pay close attention to this format. This is what FILA, the international wrestling  federation has proposed for wrestling starting next year. According to a proposal that may be approved while we are here in Athens, wrestling will change its format to a one-day competition for each athlete.    

 Pedro fought seven times. A few of his matches were only 15 minutes apart. He personally knows this format, having competed in it for many years in judo. But he also knows the wrestling format very well from his many years in our sport.    

"The better conditioned athletes will win in that format," said Pedro. "It's grueling. Training gets you through it. The format has its goods and bads. If you have a great day, you are on, you get a feeling and get into a groove, you really get rolling. That's what makes judo so tough. You have to be durable. It is not like wrestling where you can lose that feeling on the second or third day."    

It takes a certain kind of training to get through a one-day tournament.   

 "We train so I can recover," said Pedro. "My dad (his coach) trains us to win them. My weight program and my judo program works on recovery. Japan may have the numbers, but we have the technology to train the right way. We train smarter. The last four guys caved in, pretty much due to the pressure I put on them. Our training was so intense coming into this Olympics."    

ESPN asked Pedro about his wrestling background, and how it helped with his judo.    

"Wrestling helped me stay competitive" said Pedro. "You have tough guys, competing on the Div. I level. You learn conditioning and toughness. It also helped my mat performance. As you saw today, I pinned four guys. Wrestling helped me there."    

Pedro is a hero in his sport, and well respected in his former sport. During his press conference, National Freestyle Coach Kevin Jackson sent a congratulations message to Pedro through this reporter. Pedro was pleased to hear from his wrestling brethren. Jackson was quite impressed to hear how Pedro fought seven times on the way to his medal.    

Pedro's Olympic judo career is over (although he has a commitment to compete in the German bundeslige this coming year). He is turning his attention on helping build and improve his sport. First, he will help his teammates the rest of the judo competition, giving them assistance and encouragement.   

 "I am the team captain. I will help in any way I can," said Pedro. "My medal will help my teammates. Hopefully, they will get a little courage, a little inspiration from my performance. In their minds, they will know it is possible."   

 He also has a future as a leader in judo on the national level, he hopes.    

 "I am running for the president of USA Judo," said Pedro. "I think that will help tremendously. I intend to steer it in the right direction and make everybody accountable. We can change things, do things smarter. We don't have enough teachers and coaches. We are not accessible to people. In every town, there is a karate studio. In judo, you might need to travel 45 miles just for a place to train. We need to change the entire sport."    

Based on his success (with a wrestling background to boot), it is a good bet to believe Pedro can make a difference in the future.