Bellevue native Travis Stevens captured a gold medal in a field of 50 world-class competitors Feb. 20 in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Stevens, who trains on the East Coast, won five matches – three of them against world-ranked athletes – to win the gold medal at the prestigious annual judo event. Stevens entered the tournament ranked 16th in the world, hot off a fifth-place finish in World Cup Budapest.
“It was a long day,” Stevens said. “I started off kind of rough but finished strong.”
In his first match, he faced Thomas Davis of Great Britain. Stevens, who had beaten Davis previously, made short work of his competitor, throwing him with uchi mata (inner thigh throw) after 40 seconds to win the match.
In his second match, Stevens faced Aljaz Sedej of Slovenia, who entered the tournament ranked 23rd in the world. It was a tough-fought affair that ended when Stevens threw Sedej with a pick up throw for the win.
“I scored a yuko (small point) by countering his o soto gari (major outside reap),” Stevens said. “After that, he came at me with everything he had.”
Stevens said he became winded and was having a difficult time keeping up with the tempo of the match. However with about 40 seconds left in the match, Stevens developed an unconventional plan – a pick-up throw – to defeat the Slovenian and the gamble paid off, advancing Stevens in the bracket.
Next up was Ole Bishoff, a German who won the Olympic gold medal in China.
“That match was a battle,” Stevens said. “We went after each other hard with everything we had.”
Stevens fell behind early after being penalized. However, Stevens focused on gripping, posture, and controlling Bishoff. About half-way through the match, Stevens caught the German with a new sacrifice technique to score a yuko (small score). He held on to the time limit to defeat the Olympic champion.
In the semi-final match, Stevens faced Russia’s Arsen Pshmakhov, who is ranked 33rd in the world. Stevens had lost to the Russian before, but was able to win after the Russian was given two shidos (penalties) in the match.
He faced another Russian in the final – Murat Khabachirov.
“My final wasn’t very exciting but I fought hard and wanted to make sure I kept pressure on him no matter what,” Stevens said. “I decided that if I was going to lose that match I was going to make sure the Russian was going to have to throw me.”
Sticking to his plan, Stevens kept the pressure on Khabachirov, who was also exhausted from a long day of fighting. After trading attacks, and avoiding penalties which the Russian incurred, Stevens was able to win the match and the gold medal.
Stevens acknowledged he still has work to do and wants to focus on how to score against Russian competitors, recognizing that he will not be able to rely on them being penalized to win matches. Still, he admits he gave a strong performance.
“Overall it was a good day,” Stevens said. “I beat three people I had lost to in the past, but I still have a lot of work to do. I am happy with the way that I performed today but tomorrow is a new day and I have to get back to work and keep improving.”
Stevens represents USA Judo and trains with Team FORCE, under the direction of former world champion and two-time Olympic medalist Jimmy Pedro.