Ronda Rousey Was Left Shell-Shocked by USA Judo Officials’ Act in Budapest at the 2004 Junior World Judo Championships

Published 12/20/2022, 3:52 PM EST

;UFC Hall of Famer and current WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey is a proud Olympian. She became the first American woman to win a Bronze Medal in judo in 2008. But before that, Rousey was also the youngest judoka in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. But it wasn’t her best rodeo.

In her autobiography ‘My Fight/Your Fight,’ Rousey talked about how she stopped training for a couple of weeks after she lost at the 2004 Olympic games. But her mother quickly reminded her that she needed to carry on with her training routine. Rousey‘s mother wanted her to feel angry instead of feeling sorry for failing at her first Olympic appearance.

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‘Rowdy’ was to compete at the Junior World Judo Championships in 2004 in Budapest. It was her first major tournament after the Olympics that year. “I came out of the worst possible draw at the junior worlds, but it did not matter. I won my first three matches by ippon on the first day of the tournament, sending me to the semifinal,” said Ronda Rousey.

No one thought Ronda Rousey would win!

Before the semi-final, ‘Rowdy’ and her team sat down for dinner in Budapest. During that time, the officials of the USA were struggling to find their national flag; and a copy of the national anthem. Rousey wrote in her book, “Each nation’s delegation is tasked with bringing its own flag and copy of its anthem for the award ceremony.”

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‘The arm collector‘ further explained the situation by adding, “They expected us all to lose, so no one thought to bring one. It had never even crossed my mind that I would leave the tournament with anything but a gold medal. USA Judo hadn’t even considered that a possibility.”

She laughed about it at first. However, she quickly realized that they were serious about it. Nobody had expected the then-21-year-old to win the top prize even though Rousey was determined to win the Gold, which she did.

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Ronda Rousey went on to become one of the most influential combat sports athletes in history. She gathered a lot of accolades after she transitioned from Judo to MMA. The “Baddest Woman on the Planet” became the first ever Olympian to become the UFC Champion and also the first female to get inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

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Written by:

Himanga is a UFC author at EssentiallySports. He interned as a WWE author at Sportsmanor before joining EssentiallySports to pursue his interest as a sports journalist. Himanga is a big fan of UFC's Conor McGregor and considers him the most entertaining combat sports athlete of the 21st century.

Edited by:

Vineet Nandwana

Ronda Rousey Was Left Shell-Shocked by USA Judo Officials’ Act in Budapest at the 2004 Junior World Judo Championships

No one thought Ronda Rousey would win!

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