Jimmy Pedro, Wrestling
BrownBears.com will feature one former male and female student-athlete who has gone on to achieve success in the workplace, as well as exhibit the spirit of Brown University within the community. The installments will provide highlights of the selectees’ athletic careers at Brown and offer a glimpse into their current career paths.Alumni Spotlight – Jimmy Pedro ’94
A member of the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame, Jimmy Pedro ’94 is one of only nine Brown wrestlers to win an Eastern Championship, and placed within the top-four at the championship three times.
After earning First Team All-Ivy in honors in wrestling in 1991, Pedro took two years off and trained in the sport of judo for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Pedro later returned to the wrestling team to earn First Team All-Ivy honors and was named Academic All-Ivy in 1993. A two-time NCAA qualifier, Pedro made it to the round of 12 in the 1993 NCAA Championships.
Unable to compete in wrestling his senior year due to injury, Pedro qualified for a position on the United States Goodwill judo team by winning the U.S. National Championships, where he was named Outstanding Player for the U.S. at the championship. Over his career, Pedro won five U.S. National Championships, was a five-time winner of the USOC’s Male Athlete for Judo and was a two-time gold medalist at the Pan American Games.
In international competition, Pedro has won more gold medals than any American in the history of judo. In 1996, Pedro won a bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics, becoming just the eighth male to medal in judo in the history of the United States. Pedro earned a gold medal in the 1999 World Championships and was only the second American to ever win a World Championship. Pedro went on to compete in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, winning a bronze in 2004 and bringing his career Olympic appearances to four. Â
After the 2004 Olympics Pedro retired from competition. He currently owns and operates Pedro's Judo Center in Wakefield, Mass. in addition to teaching clinics and seminars throughout the country and guiding the U.S. Olympic Judo team. Pedro began coaching the Olympic squad in 2012 in London.
This past summer, Pedro guided the United States’ judo team to great success. He helped lead Travis Stevens to a silver medal in the men’s 81 kg division, which was the men’s team’s first medal since Pedro’s bronze in 2004. Pedro also guided Kayla Harrison to a gold medal in the women’s 78 kg division, her second-straight gold (both under Pedro). Harrison’s first gold was the first American Olympic gold medal in the sport of judo.
Pedro graduated from Brown in 1994 with a BA in Business Economics.
Photos Courtesy of USA Judo
Alumni and fans are encouraged to participate in the Alumni Spotlight nomination process by submitting nominees to athleticcommunication@brown.edu. Nominations should include: notable career achievements, current occupation, location, recent photos, and notable contributions to the community.
