Oak Harbor native Marti Malloy geared up for the world judo championships next month by winning the gold medal in the 57kg class in the Pan American Games Sunday, July 12, in Toronto.
A medal at the worlds, which take place Aug. 24-30 in Astana, Kazakhstan, would “almost guarantee” a spot on the 2016 United States Olympic team, Malloy said.
Malloy, 2004 OHHS graduate who now lives in San Jose, earned a bronze at the London Olympics in 2012.
Malloy is currently ranked fourth in the world in her division; the top 14 qualify for the Olympics.
The rankings are based upon results in a series of events leading up to the Olympics.
The Pan Am Games, however, are not one of those designated events. Since it was a “free tournament,” Malloy said, she was able to “go and try things we have been training on in practice” without fear of dropping in the rankings if she did not win.
She also “trained through” and did not taper for the Pan Am Games but continued two-a-day workouts right up to the tournament. Her training regiment is designed for her to peak at the world championships.
The Pan Am Games, like the Olympics, are held every four years and include 38 counties from North and South America.
Although not a qualifier for the Olympics, the Pan Am Games provide tough competition, Malloy said. Among the tournament teams were Brazil and Cuba, two powers in judo, and a Canadian team inspired by its home crowd, she said.
“The atmosphere is much like the Olympics,” Malloy said, and competing in and getting used to such an environment was the key to attending.
The win was Malloy’s fourth medal in her past six major competitions.
She won a gold in the Pan American championships (which included many of the same athletes as the Pan Am Games) in April, earned a silver in Croatia in May and took home bronze in Hungary in June.
Soon she will go to Japan to train for two weeks, followed by a two-week training session with the national team in Boston.
“We are doing very specific things in training right now; things I need to change to improve my fighting,” she said.
“Making small adjustments and seeing them work in high pressure situations (like the Pan Am Games) is very satisfying,” Malloy said.
