Nina Cutro-Kelly Set to Become the Oldest American Judoka to Compete in the Tokyo Olympics 2020

Team USA announced its Judo team for the Tokyo Olympics on 5 July. The four-person team will be the smallest team the U.S. has ever sent for Women’s Judo since they added the event to the Olympic program in 1992.

Part of this team is Nina Cutro-Kelly, who is set to become the oldest U.S. Judoka in the 57-year Olympic history of the sport. She is a heavyweight competing in the +78 category at the Olympics.

This year Judo will return to its birthplace in Japan, in the same year and the same arena where it made its Olympic debut in 1964. 

Tokyo Olympics 2020: Aussie Eventer Bows Out of Equestrian Event After Injury to Horse

Cutro-Kellys professional career

Nina Cutro-Kelly is a veteran Judoka and has been competing in the sport internationally since 2008. The 10-time US Champion will make her first appearance at the Olympic games this year. 

Cutro-Kelly is currently ranked World No. 32 in the 78kg class in the International Judo Federation’s Olympic ranking 2021. Let’s take a look at her achievements:

• 6 x USA Judo National Champion 
• 4-time Judo World Team Member 
• 2015 Pan American Championships Bronze Medalist 
• 2015 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist 
• 2 x SAMBO (Russian Combat Wrestling) Super World Cup Champion 2015
•  #1 World Ranking in SAMBO 
• Two-time gold medalist at the U.S. Senior National Championships in 2013 and 2014
• 2013 French Brazilian Jiujitsu Champion
• Competitor at the 2012 and 2014 Pan American Games 
• Member of the 2009 and 2010 Senior World Championship teams 
• 2005 U.S. Women’s Heavyweight Wrestling Champion

Record-Breaking Olympics Debut

On July 30, when Nina Cutro-Kelly competes in the +78 category at the Olympics, she will be 36 years and 217 days old. She will be around 34 days older than the previous record-holder, 3-time Olympian Celita Schutz. Schutz broke the record at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Only three women have been older than Cutro-Kelly while competing at the Olympics. The oldest of which is Ecuador’s Carmen Chala, who was 42 when she participated in 2008.