Jimmy Pedro answers media questions after Kayla Harrison's judo gold medal at the London Olympics at ExCel Center on Thursday. Gary Abbott photo

It was a historic day on Thursday in the ExCel Center in London, England, as Kayla Harrison of the United States won a gold medal at 78 kg in women’s judo, becoming the first American judo athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.

This was also the first gold medal for the United States in the North Arena 2, which will also serve as the wrestling venue for the 2012 London Games starting on Sunday.

The head coach of the U.S. Olympic judo team, who was in the corner coaching Harrison, was Jimmy Pedro, who has a strong connection to the wrestling community. Pedro was an EIWA champion in wrestling for Brown University, where he was team captain and competed in the NCAA Championships. He was a state high school champion in wrestling in Massachusetts. Pedro was also active in USA Wrestling in high school.

Harrison defeated Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain in the gold-medal finals, scoring two yuko throws. 

It was the third medal for the USA in history for its women’s judo team, to go along with bronzes by Rhonda Rousey (70 kg in 2008) and Marti Malloy (57 kg in 2012). The United States has also never won a gold medal with its men’s judo athletes either.

“It was the greatest U.S. judo performance in history,” said Pedro in the media mixed zone at the ExCel Center after the gold-medal ceremony for Harrison. “We had three in the semifinals, won a gold, a bronze, a fifth-place and a seventh place.”

Pedro talked about how tough Harrison was throughout the day, including a key win in the second round over an opponent from Hungary who she had never beaten. He also talked about how Harrison has visualized this moment for many years, and had made it happen.

“Six years ago, we took the 20 best young judo athletes in the nation and created a high performance plan, along with the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Judo. This performance shows that this plan worked. We have put judo on the map in the United States,” said Pedro.

Harrison opened the tournament with a victory over Vera Moskalyuk of Russia, stopped Abigel Joo of Hungary in the quarterfinals and defeated one of the favorites, Mayra Aguiar of Brazil in the semifinals. She dominated the action in the finals against Gibbons, who had a loud British crowd cheering for her throughout the match.

Pedro is not only Harrison’s coach on the Olympic team. Harrison has trained the last six years at Pedro's Judo Center, operated by Jimmy Pedro and his father, Jim, Sr., in Wakefield, Mass.

Harrison said this about Jimmy Pedro and his father in a recent story in USA Today by Gary Mihoces.

"It's ridiculous how lucky I got. Honestly, I don't know any two better people. To the core, they're just good people. There's right and there's wrong, and they just always, always, always do the right thing. I'm so thankful that they're part of my life," she said.

Harrison gave credit to her coaches during interviews after her victory.

"This is not just one day, it's four years of hard work. My teammates, coaches and family have sacrificed so much to make my dream come true, and today it has. I expected myself to win,” she said.

Pedro was one of the best judo athletes in American history. He was a World champion in 1999 and won Olympic bronze medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. He also claimed World bronze medals in 1991 and 1995. Pedro competed on four U.S. Olympic judo teams, including a fifth place finish in 2000.

Pedro said this after winning his second Olympic medal in 2004: “"Wrestling helped me stay competitive. 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.”

The wrestling community can continue to take pride in the achievements of Jimmy Pedro, who continues to make history in judo.

THEMAT.COM ARCHIVES: Olympic Notes for August 16, 2004: Wrestler Pedro wins judo bronze