Travis Stevens Earns First U.S. Medal at Paris Grand Slam Since 1998

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) - On Sunday, Beijing Olympian Travis Stevens (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) became the newest member of the "Paris Club" - an elite group of the only four U.S. men ever to have won medals at the Paris Grand Slam. 

Considered to be the most difficult event in Europe, Paris is a USA Judo Senior A+ Level Point Tournament and it's no coincidence that the other three members of the "Paris Club" went on to win Olympic medals as well. 

"I am psyched for Travis. He is someone who works extremely hard and pays the price to win so he deserves it," said Stevens' coach Jimmy Pedro (Wakefield, Mass.) who medaled five times in Paris, including his gold medal win in 1998.  "This is a big win for him. It should give him the confidence that he can compete with the best in the world. Judo is all about confidence and I believe this will only lead to more wins down the road." 

In addition to Pedro, who also won Olympic medals in 1996 and 2004, the only two other U.S. men to have earned medals in Paris were Jason Morris (Glenville, N.Y.) who won a silver medal at Paris in 1989 before going on to win the silver at the 1992 Olympic Games and Bob Berland (Lincolnshire, Ill.) who won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games and bronze in Paris in 1987. 

"It normally takes athletes a year or so to adjust to the way we train and to understand our system of judo. Travis has been in our program for just over a year and I believe things are starting to click just at the right time," Pedro said.

In the first round, Stevens defeated five-time World Cup medalist Alain Schmitt (FRA) who he threw with an uchimata (inner thigh throw) for a yuko (quarter-point) score in a five-minute match. 

"He was a lefty and I struggled with lefties all of last year, so I knew it would be a tough one," Stevens said of his first match.  "But halfway through the match I could tell he just didn't have any fight left in him, so I just stayed with the gripping and held him off."

In the second round, Stevens and four-time Asian medalist Shokir Muminov (UZB) were tied with two penalties each when Stevens scored a waza-ari (half-point) in the final seconds to win the match.

Stevens' quarter-final match against four-time World Cup medalist Aliaksandr Stsiashenka (BLR) was one of his most challenging of the day. 

"The guy from Belarus was a tough kid.  He was moving so much I had trouble just keeping  in front of me and he threw me with a ko soto [small outer leg throw] right off the bat for a yuko," Stevens said.  "I thought it wasn't a big deal because I planned on smashing him for ippon, but then he came in for a sode [sleeve throw] and scored a waza-ari with it."

Stsiashenka attacked again with another sode and a flustered Stevens had an idea.

"I was shaking my arm out and trying to figure out how I was going to beat this guy when I remembered from watching his other fight that he was always trying to grab [Takahiro Nakai's] leg when he stuck it out," Stevens said of his strategy to capitalize on a new rule that bans grabbing your opponent's leg during a match.  "So I decided to go with that and I was able to trick him into grabbing my leg and trying to throw me with a te guruma [hand wheel throw] and it worked."

Stsiashenka's failed te guruma attack resulted in a hansokumake (disqualification), making him one of seven players to be removed from the tournament for violating the new rules.

Stevens' win advanced him to the semifinals against 2009 European bronze medalist Levan Tsiklauri (GEO).  Stevens went in for an attack and Tsiklauri picked him up for a yuko score.  Stevens took the Georgian to the ground where he armbarred him twice, but couldn't lock it down. 

Later in the match, Stevens pinned his opponent for 10 seconds before he escaped, leaving Stevens without a score.

"I just couldn't put him away and letting him out of that pin cost me the gold medal match," Stevens said. 

Under the single elimination system being used at all of the Grand Slam and Grand Prix events, a repechage is not held and Stevens was awarded a bronze medal after his semifinal loss.

"Overall, I'm fighting pretty well.  There are a lot of things I need to work on to be ready for the Worlds," Stevens said.  "I'm looking forward to getting back to the club and tightening my game up and putting together a plan for Belarus in case I see him at the Worlds."

Stevens will go on to compete in his first event of this leg of the World Tour next weekend when he travels to Austria for the Vienna World Cup.  After his bronze medal win on Sunday and a silver medal at the Belgium Open last week, Stevens is aiming to go three-for-three during his stay in Europe.

Six other U.S. athletes also competed in Paris, but did not advance past the first round.

Natalie Lafon (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) was tied during her first round 52kg match against 2004 Olympic medalist Ilse Heylin (BEL) with a yuko each when Heylen scored a waza-ari two minutes into the match that would give her the win in the five-minute match.  .

Hannah Martin (Burnt Hills, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) lost her opening match by ippon (instant win) against four-time World Cup medalist Sarah Loko (FRA) in the 57kg division.

Nick Kossor (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) lost his first match in the 60kg division by ippon to three-time Pan Am medalist Yosmani Piker (CUB). 

Brad Bolen (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) was down by a yuko before losing to Dzmitry Shershan (BLR) by ippon in the first round of the 66kg division.

Tony Sangimino (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) drew Takashi Ono (JPN), the top-ranked player in the 90kg division in the world for his first match.  Ono won the match by ippon on his way to winning his third straight Grand Slam title. 

Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) was down by penalty against five-time Yauhen Biadulin (BLR) before losing by ippon in the first round of the 100kg division.

Complete results are as follows:

Completed Draws

Men's 60kg
1. David Asumbani (GEO)
2. Rishod Sobirov (UZB)
3. Dimitri Dragin (FRA)
3. Masaaki Fukuoka (JPN)
5. Laszlo Burjan (HUN)
5. Tumurkhuleg Davaadorj (MGL)
5. Jin-Min Jang (KOR)
5. Sofiane Milous (FRA)

Also Competed: Nick Kossor (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 0-1

Men's 66kg
1. Joo-Jin Kim (KOR)
2. Miaragchaa Sanjaasuren (MGL)
3. Tsagaanbaatar Hashbaatar (MGL)
3. David Larose (FRA)
5. Kamal Khan-Magomedov (RUS)
5. Loic Korval (FRA)
5. Ulugbek Norkobilov (UZB)
5. Pawel Zagrodnik (POL)

Also Competed: Brad Bolen (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 0-1

Men's 73kg
1. Ki-Chun Wang (KOR)
2. Hiroyuki Akimoto (JPN)
3. Yasuhiro Awano (JPN)
3. Rinat Ibragimov (KAZ)
5. Benjamin Darbelet (FRA)
5. Dex Elmont (NED)
5. Ugo Legrand (FRA)
5. Marcel Trudov (MDA)

Men's 81kg
1. Leandro Guilheiro (BRA)
2. Levan Tsiklauri (GEO)
3. Antoine Jeannin (FRA)
3. Travis Stevens (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
5. Elkhan Rajabli (AZE)
5. Dae-Nam Song (KOR)
5. Aliaksandr Stsiashenka (BLR)
5. Sergui Toma (MDA)

Men's 90kg
1. Takashi Ono (JPN)
2. Dilshod Choriev (UZB)
3. Amur Benikhlef (ALG)
3. Tiago Camilo (BRA)
5. Safouane Attaf (MAR)
5. Dmitry Gerasimenko (RUS)
5. Masashi Nishiyama (JPN)
5. Matthew Purssey (GBR)

Also Competed: Tony Sangimino (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 0-1

Men's 100kg
1. Elco Van Der Geest (BEL)
2. Serge Samoylovich (RUS)
3. Dimitri Peters (GER)
3. Irakli Tsirekidze (GEO)
5. Yauhen Biadulin (BLR)
5. Artem Bloshenko (UKR)
5. Luciano Correa (BRA)
5. Cyrille Maret (FRA) 

Also Competed: Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 0-1

Men's +100kg
1. Teddy Riner (FRA)
2. Grim Vuijsters (NED)
3. Sung-Min Kim (KOR)
3. Martin Padar (EST)
5. Stanislav Bondarenko (UKR)
5. Zviadi Khanjaliashvili (GEO)
5. Matthieu Thorel (FRA)
5. Janusz Wojnarowicz (POL)

Women's 48kg
1. Emi Yamagishi (JPN)
2. Frederique Jossinet (FRA)
3. Jung-Yeon Chung (KOR)
3. Tomoko Fukumi (JPN)
5. Michaela Baschin (GER)
5. Eva Csernoviczki (GER)
5. Nataliya Kondratyeva (RUS)
5. Sarah Menezes (BRA) 

Women's 52kg
1. Misato Nakamura (JPN)
2. Ana Carrascosa (ESP)
3. Ilse Heylen (BEL)
3. Meriem Moussa (ALG)
5. Soraya Haddad (ALG)
5. Natalia Kuzyutina (RUS)
5. Erika Miranda (BRA)
5. Yuka Nishida (JPN)

Also Competed: Natalie Lafon (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 0-1

Women's 57kg
1. Kaori Matsumoto (JPN)
2. Morgane Ribout (FRA)
3. Hedvig Karakas (HUN)
3. Nae Udaka (JPN)
5. Concepcion Bellorin (ESP)
5. Barbara Harel (FRA)
5. Sarah Loko (FRA)
5. Giulia Quintavalle (ITA)

Also Competed: Hannah Martin (Burnt Hills, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), 0-1

Women's 63kg
1. Gevrise Emane (FRA)
2. Anicka Emden (NED)
3. Yoshie Ueno (JPN)
3. Elisabeth Willeboordse (NED)
5. Claudia Ahrens (GER)
5. Sabrina Filzmoser (AUT)
5. Yarden Gerbi (ISR)
5. Ja-Young Kong (KOR)

Women's 70kg
1. Lucie Decosse (FRA)
2. Anett Meszaros (HUN)
3. Ye-Sul Hwang (KOR)
3. Yoriko Kunihara (JPN)
5. Erica Barbieri (ITA)
5. Mylene Chollet (FRA)
5. Houda Miled (TUN)
5. Marie Pasquet (FRA)

Women's 78kg
1. Akari Ogata (JPN)
2. Sayaka Anai (JPN)
3. Celine Lebrun (FRA)
3. Lucie Louette (FRA)
5. Luise Malzahn (GER)
5. Stephanie Possamai (FRA)
5. Audrey Tcheumeo (FRA)
5. Heide Wollert (GER)

Women's +78kg
1. Elena Ivashchenko (RUS)
2. Nihel Chikhrouhou (TUN)
3. Na-Young Kim (KOR)
3. Idalis Ortiz (CUB)
5. Karina Bryant (GBR)
5. Anaid Mkhitaryan (RUS)
5. Rosalina Oukoloff (FRA)
5. Lucia Tangorre (ITA)

 

Tags: Brad Bolen, Hannah Martin, Kyle Vashkulat, Natalie Lafon, Nick Kossor, Tony Sangimino, Travis Stevens