Kayla Harrison

Angelica Delgado and hope for USA judo

Angelica Delgado and hope for USA judo

DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Just moments before, Angelica Delgado — an American! — had won a bronze medal in the women’s under 52-kilo class, and convincingly at that, a no-doubt ippon, and now she was standing in the tunnel here at the ISS Dome, with her coach and the USA Judo high-performance director, and there were tears in her eyes, and these were tears of happiness and relief — and expectation, too.

“It feels really good to get a medal in a qualifying year,” the Tokyo Olympics just months away, the 29-year-old Delgado said.

She added, “To make a statement like this in a qualifying year means I know I can get a medal at the Olympics.”

She wiped away a tear. “I’m just really happy.”

Kayla Harrison is a very, very bad woman

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RIO de JANEIRO — Kayla Harrison is a very, very bad woman.

Bow in her direction. All her opponents do.

Kayla Harrison in the moment of triumph // Getty Images

In one of the most thunderously badass performances in Olympic judo history, Harrison on Thursday plundered the women’s 78-kilogram (172 pound) category to win a second straight Olympic gold.

To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2bjODiB

Judo Princess, world champion

When she was just 12, Kayla Harrison gave herself a nickname: Judo Princess. It's still part of her email address. The princess fights tough. Now she's world champion.

At judo's world championships earlier this month in Tokyo, Kayla Harrison, now 20 years old, beat 19-year-old Mayra Aguiar of Brazil in sudden-death overtime to win the 78-kilogram (172-pound) division.

Her victory shines a spotlight on a sport that may be poised to be one of the American success stories come London and 2012. At the same time, it also shows just how long and uncertain the road to an Olympic medal can be for athletes in sports such as judo, where you sure don't do it for money but you indisputably need some amount of money to even have a shot at making it.

Click here to read the rest at TeamUSA.org.