Kayla Harrison went undefeated in five matches at the competition to become one of just four U.S. players ever to win a World Championships and the first female to win gold since Anne-Marie Burns in 1964.
Kayla Harrison was born July 2, 1990 & is a judoka from the USA. She won the Junior World in 2008 & was runner-up in 2009. In 2010, she won the World Judo Championship & in 2012, she was the gold medalist at the London Olympics in the women's 78 kg division.
Born in Middletown, Ohio. Harrison took up judo at the age of six, having been introduced to the sport by her mother, who was a black belt. She began training under coach Daniel Doyle & won two national championships by the age of 15. However, during that period Doyle was abusing Harrison, who reported it to another judoka, who in turn told Harrison's mother. She subsequently reported this to the police. Doyle was convicted & sentenced to a ten-year prison term. A month after the abuse was revealed, she moved away from her home in Boston to train with Jimmy Pedro & his father.
She changed weight classes in 2008, from the 63 kg division to the 78 kg division. However, she couldn't compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics as the United States had not qualified in that division. She won the Junior World Championship that year & the following year placed second, becoming the first American to compete in two Junior World Championships finals. She won the gold medal in the 78 kg category at the World Judo Championships in 2010, the first American to do so since 1999, when her coach, Jimmy Pedro, did so in Birmingham, England. At the 2011 World Judo Championship in Paris, she placed third taking the bronze medal. Harrison had lost to the eventual winner, Audrey Tcheumeo, in her semi-final.
Prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she was injured during training, having torn a medial collateral ligament. On August 2, 2012, she won the Olympic title in the 78 kg category, defeating Gemma Gibbons by two yukos to become the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in judo.
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