Online Plus Edition Monday, August 16, 2004
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Win or lose, it was all worth itOlympic Diary Jimmy Pedro EDITOR'S NOTE: Four-time Olympian Jimmy Pedro of Methuen, a graduate of St. John's Prep, will be competing in the 73-kilogram division for the U.S. Judo team today. He is rated by many as the greatest judo competitor the U.S. has ever produced and is considered the Americans' best hope for their first-ever gold medal in the sport. Pedro is providing The Eagle-Tribune readers an up-close-and-personal account of his experiences in Athens for the 2004 Summer Olympics. By the time most people read this, my judo career will be over. That's life. You have to deal with things and move on. Not competing any more will be tough. The reason I made a comeback two years ago was because I missed it so much. Yesterday was Alex Ottiano's (of Lawrence, my longtime training partner) last bout. Like I said, he had real tough draw in the first round against the Russian. He fought well, but the other guy was a little better. He will be getting married on Sept. 25, so he figures it's time to move on with his life. But knowing what I went through, he'll probably think about a comeback some day. It's just the way it is when you've done something as long as he and I have. Yesterday was probably the most relaxing day I've ever had at an Olympics. It's weird, I just don't feel the pressure right now. I know what's at stake, but I'm calm. I don't know if that's good or bad. I guess I'll find out. I didn't go over to the judo venue. I just hung out around the village. I watched Alex fight on TV. In fact, I watched judo most of the day on TV. There were two things I did for a little while to get away a little bit. I watched a movie, Pulp Fiction, which was a strange movie. And I got a message. When Alex came back to the village we talked a bit and then he went over with me to the American College in Greece so I could work out a little to make sure I'm under 73 kilograms (160.6 pounds). One of the funny parts of the day was when I went over the big cafeteria in the village. I saw Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6 hoop player from China. I've never seen a guy that big before. He seemed like a good guy, saying "hi" to people as they walked by. I also spoke to my wife (Marie) and kids (Casey, A.J. and Ricky). Of course, I'm trying to explain to them the importance about today for me, and my son A.J. said, "Good, Dad, when are you coming home?" To lessen the pain of me being away, Marie told the kids that we would go on a Disney Cruise if daddy won (a gold medal) in Athens. My youngest son Ricky asked, "If you don't win, are we going on the Disney Cruise?" I told Ricky it might be a little too expensive but I told him we'd see, so what does he say? "You know the chocolates and presents you were going to bring home to give to us? When you do, I'll give you a quarter for them." Talk about helping me put things in perspective. Well, this is it. I've been waiting for this moment for four years, 12 years, almost my entire life. When I won the bronze in 1996, it was one of the greatest feelings in the world, especially having to win so many matches after losing. It would be even better not losing at all. But win or lose, I know I've given myself the best shot. That's all you can ask for in this sport. I've had a lot of great experiences and met a lot of incredible people through judo. I feel like I've won already. But keep your fingers crossed.
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