How to Make It to the Olympics in Judo - An Interview with Jimmy Pedro - The Shintaro Higashi Show

[@Byzantios1]

I remember Coach Jimmy at Shidokan in Montreal. He did a stint there when he competed and then brought the US kids up when he was team coach. I also used his grip strategy which improved my game significantly.

[@RBC0405]

Pedro is a legend.

[@3YangBros]

Wow, this is the best episode for the US athletes who are targeting 2028 Olympics. So much deep details of financial and international competition. We 3 yang bros joined to US Performance Center to keep our balls rolling to Olympics medal for USA 🇺🇸 2028 and beyond. So much difficult for this Judo challenge than we thought. Thank you Sensei Shintaro and Jimmy for great talking for US Judoka dreamers. We feel nowadays US has more and strong young Judoka, I meat a lot. 👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸😎

[@3YangBros]

Will tell this episode whoever has same boat as us. Great job again. 👍

[@wanderer5200]

Great to hear from Jimmy Pedro. Thanks for the share.

[@billboland3446]

Best show yet! I

[@mrt862]

So cool. Thanks to both of you ♥

[@ryanwilliams9984]

These are awesome! Thanks to you both

[@theonereborn9299]

The lack of formal Judo academys in the US hurts my soul.

[@ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511]

i sometimes wonder if travis regrets devoting so much of his effort to something which eventually was not financially lucrative. not that money is the be all and end all of course. but damn if you devote your life to being amongst the absolute best, then you want to be comfortable at the end. i doubt travis's youtube makes a tiny fraction of something like babish, for example, and i don't know about sponsors and prize money but i imagine in judo it's not a sizeable amount, same goes for shintaro - i hope they do well. they are people i have enormous admiration for, and i speak as a man who gave years of his own life to grappling, i do wonder if i had put those efforts into other areas what i could have achieved.

[@theguy7878]

But I feel like he only got that far because he honestly enjoyed it. So basically for you to get that far in anything … you have to enjoy it so you don’t burn out. So if he tried something else simply because of the money… he wouldn’t get far because he would eventually burn out.

[@Koga_fan_013]

Could you do another hang with Travis?

[@jamesbyrd5175]

He's kind of right about wrestling. It's not super clear whether Russia or the US are better at Freestyle. Maybe the US is bit better now, it's still close. Iran is pretty strong, they are like the third wheel. Greco is a different matter. They are niche everywhere lol and the US is really bad. Easiest to make a team for them. I don't think the wrestling system is based on points. You have to place in the top 6 at the worlds prior to olympics to qualify a spot. If you don't do that, then you have to win a continental qualifier or then win a last chance world qualifier tournament.

[@tl8211]

Well, as it turns out, Japan is the best 😂🤣

[@thanhbuidux2308]

man i miss Judo, I am currently out for three months, because of a rotator cuff surgery

[@jordanshadle646]

Won Hee Lee did a tournament recently so I think Jimmy's gotta come back and avenge his loss in Athens

[@Mutex50]

I'm really curious - what happens if you do really well at one weight class, but want to switch? Do you start back at zero points?

[@aqiria]

If you're referring to the international scene, yes, you start from zero.

[@Mutex50]

@@aqiria So if someone were to win a Grand Prix at 73 kg and wants to compete in another Grand Prix at 81 kg he has to do every thing over? He has to win national tournaments at 81kg and then win an open international tournament at 81 kg until he can compete at a Grand Prix or a Grand Slam at 81 kg?

[@aqiria]

@@Mutex50 I don't know how the local selection for the team of the US works in such cases, but if you compete internationally, you will start at 0 points in new weight category on the world ranking list (they're eligible to compete at grand prix/grand slam regardless of the ranking, as long as the US federation sends them).

[@Anonymous_Whisper]

Hold both categories lmao. 👑

[@michaelyizzi3556]

Is there a maximum age limit for Olympic Judo?

[@tl8211]

No, but in reality Olympic-level judo is super-hard on the body. Teddy Riner is a genetic freak and he's half-destroyed already

[@poubina]

All this conversation makes me think about how difficult it should be to be a World and Olympic champion like Paula Pareto (Argentina) without those "numbers" in her wallet.

[@Anonymous_Whisper]

I would say the Olympic gold for judo might be less prestigious than being top in Japan.

[@frankiecal3186]

9 men and 9 women get sent to the Olympics for judo in each country that's way better then wrestling where it's 6 men and 6 women.

[@tl8211]

Only 7 men and 7 women, and then only the host country and Japan manage to do that. The US sent 3 directly qualified and 1 continental quota (and only 2 of those were homegrown).