In a quest for its first Olympic medals since 2016 when Kayla Harrison (78kg) took gold and Travis Stevens (81kg) captured silver, the USA Judo team is sending four athletes to the 2024 Games with hopes of reaching the podium in Paris.
The most-seasoned U.S. team member is Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla./NYAC/Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) who will make her third Olympic Games appearance this summer in France. Competing in the women’s 52 kg division, Delgado, 33, improved upon her 17th place finish at the Rio 2016 Games with a 9th place finish in Tokyo. Can she make a similar jump in Paris? The three-time Grand Slam medalist won her ninth Senior Pan American-Oceania Championship medal with a silver in April in Rio.
Training alongside Delgado in Miami is Cuban native Maria Laborde (Kenosha, Wis./NYAC/Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) who received her U.S. citizenship in 2022 and began competing for Team USA that year. The 33-year-old won a team bronze medal for Cuba at the 2013 Senior World Championships and returned to the podium the following year with an individual bronze medal victory. In 2023, Laborde made history as the first U.S. athlete since 2016 to medal at the Masters Worlds when she won silver. She will hold the highest seed for Team USA at the Paris Games where she is expected to be seeded 10th at 48 kg.
Although a little less internationally experienced than their female counterparts on the U.S. team, John Jayne (Chicago, Ill.) and Jack Yonezuka (West Long Branch, N.J./NYAC/Cranford JKC) provide just as much hope of reaching the podium in Paris. A dual citizen of both the U.S. and Great Britain, Jayne, 27, qualified for his first Senior World Championship in 2021. A three-time medalist at the Senior Pan Am-Oceania Championships, he won a silver medal at the event earlier this year in the 90 kg division. Hailing from one of the most storied families in USA Judo, the 21-year-old Yonezuka will be the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic Judo Team in Paris. His father, Nick Yonezuka, was a 1980 Olympian and his grandfather, Yoshisada Yonezuka, is a two-time Olympic coach. Jack made history as a junior, becoming the first U.S. man to win two medals at a Junior World Championships with bronze in 2022 and silver in 2023. In March, Yonezuka won his first World Tour medal with a bronze in 73 kg at the Upper Austria Grand Prix, becoming the second U.S. man to win a Grand Prix medal during the Paris quadrennium.
Athletes to Watch: #
- Maria Laborde – Female, 48 kg
- Angelica Delgado – Female, 52 kg
- Jack Yonezuka – Male, 73 kg
- John Jayne – Male, 90 kg
For inquiries: Bill Kellick - bill.kellick@usajudo.us
