YouSaid · the spoken record

Jimmy Pedro

lines on the record: 157
first: 2021-10-31
most recent: 2021-10-31
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“And every other athlete was just like nervously doing repetitions of Uchi Komis. You could see sweat coming out. You could see all this nervous energy going through their body. And here comes Travis Stevens. He's got these big goofy headphones on. He's got a tank top that says USA on it. He's got the swim trunks that say USA that have shiny letters that glow in the dark. And he's like, and this is in the middle of the judo hall where all these athletes are warming up for their first match. And he's like dancing around, like doing this loose warm-up. Like almost like. Little kid at an amusement park. Whose dad said, Yeah, go play And it was like he had waited four years for that moment, and he was so relaxed.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Said after one of the brags, that's the strongest I've ever felt that guy, right? Before the competition, so physically was ready. Mentally, the morning of competition, I said to Travis, I looked him in the eye and I said, we're ready to go over to the venue. I said, are you ready today? And he just looked at me like he goes, I am going to shock the world today. What he told him, I'm going to shock the world today. And I said, all right, great, let's go, right? So we go to the venue.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Who is this guy? He didn't meddle, he's not that important. And up until right until you get to right before the Olympics, now they talk about he's an Olympian again. But up until that point, and then every little kid Kayla's medal. Oh, Travis, yeah, you went to the Olympics. Where's your medal? How did you do? I took fifth out in place. It's the lowest of low every day having that constant reminder. So four years later, When that guy mentally was ready. Physically, he was ready. That was the best and strongest Travis Stevens that I've ever seen and I've ever felt because I had to get on the mat and do some drills and stuff like that and try to defend Ambars and because we didn't have a lot of bodies in Rio. And I was like, my God, he's.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Except for that bronze medal match. But he just didn't have the fight in him anymore. He left it all out in the match in the Bischoff match. So to see him come back with zero, right? We just had a team where his best friend, Marty Malloy, won a bronze medal, right? Then the day after Travis fights, Kayla Harrison goes and wins her first gold medal, right? Our first ever gold. So we have a gold and a bronze. His training partner wins a gold, his best friend from growing up wins a bronze. He has nothing, right? To see him for four years go through hell, like literally like all of his injuries, every training camp, and then forget the humiliation because every time any reporter ever came to my dojo, they want to talk to Kayla. She's the Olympic champion. This Travis guy”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not know just seeing Travis not finish on the podium period. In the Olyschoff match, I thought he won regardless of who won and who lost. He just left everything he had on that mat, right? 10 minutes of probably was a 20 something minute match, but 10 minutes of fighting actually, right? He left everything he had. He wanted to be in the Olympic Finals. He wanted to be Olympic champion. And when he didn't get that opportunity, he lost everything. He drained himself. He cried for 45 minutes straight. I couldn't regroup him. I couldn't get him up. I said, Travis, you've got to stop your crying. You've got to get off the floor. We've got a bronze medal fight. Like if you don't recover, you're not going to perform well. And he just didn't care. Like it was gold or nothing. And so when he walked out against the Canadian boy, he had beaten the Canadian, I think, at that time. He had beaten that Canadian every single time.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Electric. First of all, in 2012 in London, it was like Felt like somebody died. I'm not going to be, I'm not going to lie to you”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The swim team's on there with their full sweats and their staff and like their managers. And I heard the girl go, I'm sorry, this was 1994 because it was in St. Petersburg, Russia. So I heard the little girl on the team. She goes up to coach. She goes, coach, do you think you can send a massage therapist to my room at 10 a.m.? You know, I'm feeling kind of jet lagged. I looked at me and Jason looked at each other like. She scheduled on my Even have a staff. Like, what the hell is going on here? You know, what a difference. Sporting, you know, different sports within the same country.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's it It was funny because when I was 1990, it was at the Goodwill Games, right? And it was a U.S. Olympic committee type event. And so we're on the bus with the swim team. And it was me and Jason Morris on the American team. And we're going to the judo competition. But we're on the bus with the swim team. I'm sorry, we're going to the venue where we're staying. I remember being by ourselves with no staff, no manager, no coach. We're just by ourselves going to fight in Russia, right?”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Two competitions, two training camps, three weight cuts now, and then so they're not 100% when they fight in Germany, but that's all part of the experience they need, the training that they need that they don't get here in this country. And all of those were just preparation for our world championships or our Olympic Games. So by the time our athletes got to those tournaments, they felt so strong, so rested, so like, man, this guy that felt like a monster in Germany feels like nothing today because you're fully rested now, you know?”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just the job done, but every single time he got the job done. And I made those athletes fight. We would fight in Paris. We would do a camp for a week, double session camp for a week. He'd be seven kilos over have to fight the next weekend. We're talking two or three days later. So not only did he make the wait, but he did a grueling training camp twice a day and then cut weight and then fought again. Then did another camp for a week in double session training camp and then fought on a third weekend in a row. And our athletes went through hell. You know, all of our athletes went through hell because on the tour around the world they fought in every event. They did every camp. They fought in every event whereas most of the other teams like Japan comes in and fights in Paris. Then they go home. They maybe do a camp for three days. Then they go home. They don't stay in Europe for four or five weeks straight and fight in every tournament. And when you get to Germany, the Germans skip the French open. They skip the camp in France. They're just getting ready for Germany. Our athletes already had.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Until the day before the tournament, like he had five kilos over the day before, that was his way, but he would do three workouts, you know, wake up in the morning and work out, then he'd eat, then he'd work out in the afternoon, then he'd eat again, then he'd work out again at night, and then he'd reward himself. Hey, I worked out three times today. He'd go have a mountain dew. Or Jockabar, you know, and then his next morning, he's back up to 87, and he would never touch weight until the morning of Wans. That's when he wasn't on wait for more than like five minutes.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Like I never, it was just an expectation of making weight, not making weight was never an option for any of our athletes. And Travis knew it. And he said, as a professional, my job is to make weight. If I don't make weight, he was never going to allow that to happen and he was never going to allow us to come to him and say, hey, I told you, you know, because losing wasn't an option, making a weight wasn't not making weight was not an option for him ever either. But, you know, a lot of times he wouldn't even, he'd be nine kilos over on the plane going over to the tournament and have to make weight three days later. And he didn't break 86 kilos.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Part of his process, it was part of his way of getting ready for battle Yeah, it really was. And if I'm going to suffer this much, then I'm going to make my opponents pay for all the suffering that I went through to get here. That was his mindset. Later on in his career, you're right. Like a lot of times, Travis, he would never step on a scale, you know, until he got to the tournament. And even when he get to the tournament, he'd weigh like 90 kilos. He'd show up at the tournament nine kilos over.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there's no injury. The only time you leave in this dojo is if the ambulance has to take you out of here. And I do think subliminally Travis bought into that message and heard that message then said, if I'm going to be a champ, then that's the way I'm going to do it. And he did. And he embodied it. He lived it. Man, there are many times in Europe where I'd say, dude, just tape it up, go off to the side, just take the day off, like take the rest of the day off. You're beat up. You can't do it. He's no, I'm going to tape it up. I'm going to tape it up. I said, no, you don't need to right now. And he said, no, Sensei, I'm doing it. The ambulance isn't taking me out. It just my wrist. It's just my ankle. It's just my.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One of the talks I gave, Travis and that team My vision, I shared my vision with them. I said, my vision is in seven years, because that was 2005. I said, in seven years, I want to have a U.S. team that steps on the mat, that is ready to kick ass. And in order to get there, all of you guys can be a part of this team and part of this process, but in order to get there, you guys have to be the first ones to practice. You have to be the last ones to leave because we have to work harder than the rest of the world because we're up against all odds. I said I am sick of America being a laughing stock of judo and being the first round easy match warm-up for everybody else. I said, if you get injured, you're not going to be on the side with, you know, with an ice bag on taking off rounds and then get back on the mat the next day and tell me you're okay. If you can train the next day, you can train today.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They'd give 100% of themselves for victory. And, you know, Travis was somebody that when he was down, he found a way to get better doing something else. If he couldn't do standing, that's when he started Jiu-Jitsu. He couldn't go on his feet anymore. He couldn't stand up and train. Might as well go learn Jiu-Jitsu and get good on the ground. Right? Because I can. So he always found a way, and no matter what obstacle was in his way, he just went around it.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Heartbroken and disappointed in himself. So that's a trait that I think all of the athletes that I work with, like closely, they all had that same trait. They hated losing more than anything. They would break their arm. They'd fall on their head. You know, they'd rather get hit by a car than lose a judo tournament. And as a result, then they all had fight and they all were willing to train and they were willing to listen and they would do anything for victory. You know, within the rules, I'm not talking about taking drugs or anything like that, but they would.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know, and that's how it started. I saw that MN when he was young, but the other thing was Travis, like there's no such thing as hard work to that guy. If you tell him to put his head through the wall and that's how he wins, he'll go put his head through the wall. He'll do whatever it takes. Him to do to achieve success. And he hates failure more than he likes winning 100%. He always has. He punishes himself when he doesn't do well. He makes himself work harder. He goes and abuses himself when he doesn't succeed because he's so”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Career ahead of you. Like, I'm glad you're disappointed, but there's so many things you don't know and so many skills you don't have. The fact that you were able to hold your own and scrap like that, like you've got a good future. And I remember calling my friend, Jason Morris, after that tournament. And I said, hey, man, do you ever hear this kid Travis Stevens? He says, no, why? I said, man, that kid's got some fight in him, right? And I said that. I said that to Jason at the time. I said, that kid's got some fight in him, man. He's pretty talented.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had never seen Travis fight before, compete, train, anything. And during this competition, he's an 81 kilo player. I think he was maybe like 18 years old, 17, 18 years old. And it was a really hard European event. And I think Travis won three matches and he lost two. But what stood out the most to me was like the fight he had in him. He was scrapping every fight. Like he scrapped hard. Like he wanted to win more than any of them. Right. He didn't win, but he wanted to win more. And I noticed that right away. And then I also noticed that after he lost his second match and he was eliminated from the tournament, I saw how disappointed he was in himself. He actually thought he was supposed to beat those people. Even though he was like 17, right? And he's fighting against grown men that are high-level judo, much higher than he was. And I said to him, I said, hey son, like, don't worry, man. You got a lot.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“His fight. Travis has fight. And you know, the first time I ever saw Travis Stevens was in, like, recognized him. Maybe I had seen him before as a younger boy or something, but like actually recognized him as I brought a group of young kids to Italy for a competition and a training camp. And it was this program called U-23 Elite. And I picked handpick 20 kids to go to this event. And it was their first time I coached an international team.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Most of it has to come in from it, it certainly helps, but it has to come from you first. You have to be driven. Like other people can help you define where you want to go and help you get there and encourage you and can support you. And whether it's resource-wise or with connections and like they can help with that path. But that first part has to come from you. It has to be your passion, your desire. your commitment to yourself. You're the one that's going to ultimately make all the sacrifices to do it. So it has to be your decision, not your parents, not your spouses, something that you're really motivated to do.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Everybody sees everybody succeed. Nobody posts the picture when they're on the ground in failure, losing nobody sees when you broke your arm and you had to go through rehab, you know, whatever it is, like had your injuries and you're on your couch watching TV and you were suffering and you were like everybody has really, really dark, bad moments in their life and defeats and losses and suffrage. And it's only at the end after they've recovered from all of that. They've reclimbed up the mountain and they've gone to the pinnacle that you see them on social media with the metal. But everybody else struggles and was human and failed many, many times. And, you know, Convincing yourself that you're capable, I think is the first thought of everything.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Correct. And I think a lot of people Overestimate who others are Right. And sell themselves too short. Because at the end of the day, everybody started. Everybody else, really. I mean, we did, you know, we're all infants, we couldn't walk, we couldn't talk, we couldn't do anything we learned along the way. And I think that's the one thing that I realized that I tell this to my athletes, but I also tell it to my recreational students nobody is better than you are. Nobody. Unless you allow them to be. If you really want something to happen, then map the plan. Believe in yourself. Full out, you're going to fail a lot. You're going to get beat down. You're going to have losses. You're going to have struggles. And I think that's the one thing with social media today is that.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Inside of that dojo, I want to have Olympic champions and I want to have recreational, like little kids five and six years old, older guys in their 70s training. I don't care, but I want the spectrum of recreational and I want Olympic champions. The only way to do that is to take your instructors and say, you're going to do this, define the roles, who's going to be the recreational coach, who's going to be the competitive coach, how do we separate these programs? And lo and behold, that was my vision that I shared with all of them. And that was back in 2006. And by 2012, we've got Olympic champion, Kayla Harrison. We have over 200 people at the school. We have a successful thriving business, but it doesn't happen without that vision, a plan, and believing that It's possible”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a recreational school. You can't produce champions at that same school. That's what I was told. So then I got all my black belts together and I said, listen, this is my vision. This is what I want. I want to have a club that has over 200 judo-only athletes, no jiu-jitsu, no karate, nothing judo only. I want over 200 people.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Came in and said, Well, this place is really intimidating. Like, if I was coming in off the street, the first thing I see is this big Olympic champion on the wall and I see this training that's going on and these guys are flying through the year and landing hard and as a white belt you're telling me that's the class for me like no way I'm not going to do that so like I listen to these people and I said you're right and you know the training was hour and a half two hours long people can't handle an hour and a half or two hours training when they first walk in the door so I had to restructure all my programming I had to look at the way I was offering my my curriculum my school and I had to make levels for everybody right like here's my four to six year old class here's my six to 13 year old class there's here's my all my beginner classes they don't mix in with the advanced people and like you know and I had to learn how to make it accessible for everybody instead of just the the people that wanted to train hard and then the challenge was okay if you can have a lot of people in your dojo train”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the same with my dojo when I first opened, so I ran a dojo for a long time and I only had 60 students always, like 40 to 60 students had fluctuated. And I sit there and said, why can't I get more people on my door? So I hired consultants to come in and look at my business and say, why? Right.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So having those goals for yourself, it won't happen and it's not possible unless you dream it's possible and think that it's possible. And then it doesn't magically happen. And maybe it doesn't happen in five years. Maybe it happens in 10. But at least you're on the path to getting there. You know what I mean? And I said, I want to own my own business. I want to control my own destiny. I want to be my own boss. I want to make my own decisions. Like these are the things that I told her I wanted to do. And now I'm at that point, you know, where I work for myself. I have my own company. I have partners, obviously, but like if I want to pick up and go somewhere for a week, I just do. I don't have to ask permission to do it. Right. That's what life, freedom, right? That's what I'd like.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“100% because I just know with my own life, my own experiences, like my wife sometimes says to me, she says, well, where do you see yourself in like, you know, five years from now? And five years ago, I had said to her, you know, I want to have my own business. I want to have, you know, this is the amount of money that I'm hoping I can make in a given year. Like you have to have goals for yourself. If you put out there like, okay, I want to make a million dollars in a year. That's a big number. Like for me or for the normal person, that's a really big number. You know what I mean? Especially when you're not making that much at the time. It's a super big number.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When I explain it to you, I guess my body has been it through it so many times both in my mind and in reality that it brings back all of those same emotions. I start to get goosebumps. My armpits start to sweat. Like I'm living it if it's real. I'm reliving it now, but when you're going through the visualization process. It has to be that real. The smells, the taping of the fingers, like the more colorful and the more real you can make it. More believable it is.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've seen this, this is going to happen. I believe it's possible. And I believe the athletes that do that and make it real enough that when they get to that moment, they go right through. There's no hesitation. Is what this is meant to be. This is my destiny. This is why I did everything I did versus the ones that don't think about it ever, but just kind of like hope. It's not real to them. It doesn't feel attainable. They don't believe it's possible. They haven't committed to believing it was possible. Without that commitment in yourself and that belief, it can't happen.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“From start to finish, and make it as real as possible. You know, we're all the way to the moment where you've just won and you're raising your arms in celebration, you're bowing, you're hugging your opponent, you come off the mat, you hug your coach, you're running around the stadium with the flag, you know, you stepped up on the podium, you heard your name. Olympic champion, Jimmy Pedro, like you heard the moment. The metal being put around your neck, picture the people coming up on the podium with you, arms around them taking the pictures. The more real you can make it, even before it ever happens, right? When you do that enough times, I feel that pathways get created. You so that when your body gets to that moment, and I've been here before, this is it. This is my moment. This is what I picture my whole life. I'm not nervous.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yourself making weight, picture yourself who you're around, eating your breakfast, you know, having maybe saying a few jokes, laughing. This is a real day. Make it real Going back and packing your judo bag for the day, you know, getting on the bus, driving to the venue, feel what it's like walking into the stadium, you know, for the first time, going to the warm-up area, seeing your drawer up on the, you know, on the sheet, who you're going to fight that day, watching yourself warm up, go through your warm-up routine, walking out of the chute, you know, into the venue, going to do that first fight, picture the moment of throwing your opponent, coming off the mat, high fiving the coach, getting ready for your second fight. Like live the day.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is you should do it either every night before you go to bed or every training session or after every training session. One of those three times it should, or first thing you wake up in the morning because maybe it helps some people, it motivates them to go do what it is they're supposed to do in the day. But the process of visualization is, to me, is closing your eyes for a few moments, your brain works really, really fast, right? And it's actually picturing the day in its entirety from start to finish, you know, from the moment you wake up and you step on the scale to the moment you have your breakfast and you go through your morning routine, like live the day that you're going to have at the Olympics. So whatever it is you're trying to do, let's say the Olympic Day, for example.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If the goal is to go to the Olympics, let's accomplish these other things first, right? Because if we can accomplish these other things, then we're on our way to getting to the ultimate goal, which is the Olympics. For somebody like Kayla, for example, you know, she didn't say that she wanted to be Olympic champion, you know, when she first came here in 2005. We wanted to become national champion. Then we wanted to be on the world team. Then we wanted to be a world medalist. Then our sights were set on the Olympics or the Olympic gold. So it's having those clearly defined goals that are attainable. They should be a reach. They should be a stretch, but they have to be attainable. They can't be just a pipe dream. But once you put it to paper and you think it's achievable, then it's mapping the plan to get there.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think it's going to be a seed in that athlete's brain something they want to do, right? Nobody can quickly get there, right? It's a long process. But if your goal, if you're a national champion or you've proven yourself to win some international tournaments and you think the Olympics is a possibility for you, then defining it as, hey, I want to be on the Olympic team, that would be the first step into getting ready. I always make them put it on paper. If it really is your goal and you show me that it's your goal and put it on paper and commit to it, I want to be Olympic medalist. I want to be Olympic champion. I want to go to the Olympics. World team member, maybe junior world team member, whatever it is, we walk before we go to the highest level.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A lot more technical. My dad is good at identifying what they need to do for their techniques and what, you know, and strategy, how to beat opponents and putting game plans together. So combined the two of us made an unbelievable team.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where I think there's a flaw of weakness is on the mental preparation side of the game. He wasn't somebody that was, I don't know if he, maybe because he was an Olympic champion himself and wasn't a world champion, he lacked the confidence in helping others be more confident. So he's more of a, this is what you need to work on type of thing. He doesn't know how to build the athletes up to make them feel invincible. And I feel like that's something that I was able to give all of the athletes, to help him with that visualization, belief in yourself, knowing that you're going to win before you step out of the mat, knowing that we've earned the right to victory, you know, seeing success in your mind, having a positive mantra that you, I'm the best in the world. Nobody's beating me today, type of feeling. So you go out there feeling like king kong when you step on the mat, that nobody's going to stop you. And so I think the combination of both of us as coaches, I'm a little.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My dad moved her to Camp New Hampshire in Boston, got her up, ran her in the morning, had her downstairs in the basement of his house, training with the weights. We brought a Russian girl in. She did throws on his cement outside with the little crash bag. The Russian girl, you know, a hundred times that morning, and then every night came to Boston, to the training center in Wakefield, trained at night, and went back and slept at my dad's house. And three weeks straight before she went off to Beijing. And he did the same with Kayla. He did the same with me. He's just, his passion is producing athletes. And then the one side of my dad's.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In terms of training, I think that he's probably the most brilliant human when it comes to preparing an athlete physically, not to say mentally, physically for success when all the chips are down, that athlete will be ready that day and he has a system of training and preparing and getting the athletes a peak for performance.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Number one, my dad is the most brutally honest person you will ever meet in your life. Brutally honest. He will tell you if you are fat, he will tell you you're fat right to your face. He wants you to get better. He wants you to be healthy. Don't want you to die of obesity, it's just the way he is. If you didn't do well, he will not sugarcoat it. He will let you know what you didn't do right and what he's, so he's the ultimate litmus test. Second is he is the most passionate, caring, like, deep, like always thinking about Very cerebral, very student of the game. Somebody who helped me immensely in defining my strategy, helping me improve and always look for what's next.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I love being in the spotlight. I didn't have, I wasn't nervous when it came to the finals, or I knew I was getting a medal. It didn't matter. So it was just me against the other guy. And that's how I always saw it. And I just love that moment.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I loved being in the finals. I love the spotlight being on me. I can't think of too many times in my career. Of course there were a few, but there weren't too many times where the chips were down, like the lights were on, and I didn't win. Like it was, I might have lost early in the day and didn't make it to the finals or didn't make it to the medal rounds. But like in my career, I have a ton of golds. I have a ton of bronzes, which means the lights are on and I won and I have very few silvers and very few fifths. So I either lost in the early rounds and didn't make to the metal rounds in my younger days or the spotlight came and I really shined. Because if you look, I don't know how many silvers, but there wasn't very many silver medals in my career that I won. You know what I mean? So I just love that moment. I didn't feel pressure. I love the crowd.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, in order to be a champion, my belief is that you have to hate losing more than you like winning. Hate losing more than you like winning. But I live for those moments when you do win. And what excited me the most in my career when I was competing was.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Ended up being the only Olympic medal we won at that games, but it was like a magical moment to define my career and solidified myself in history where, hey, and now I get to step up on the Olympic podium and I'm Olympic medalist. And to me, that was my defining moment. And after that, I was sold. Like, man, I had to go back to the Olympics again. I want to win a gold medal. I want to this feeling all over again. I don't care if I have to wait four years. Let's do it.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I'm getting goosebumps right now talking about But it was a match against the Brazilian for the bronze medal. I had beaten the Brazilian like two or three times before that. I found myself down in the match. He actually countered me. I came into my Tatoshi and he was waiting for it and he counted me and he scored a Yuko against me. So I was losing the fight, came down to about the last minute in the match and I was just tucking in my gee and fixing my thing and gathering my thoughts together in the whole crowd just started chanting. USA USA USA and I literally got so much energy. I walked out there. I grabbed a guy. I came in my Tatosha again. He stepped off the Taotosh. I threw him with Duchimata free pone. I won my first Olympic medal in front of the hometown crowd. Everybody went bananas. You know, the United States judo team had our first medal from the Olympics.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I lost at that Olympics to a guy from Mongolia. It was right before the match I was supposed to fight against Japan. So I was like anticipating the match against Japan and I got beat by the Mongolian. So that was kind of a letdown. But the match for the bronze, you know, in front of the hometown crowd, all of my family, all of my friends, everybody who had ever helped me in the sport were in the stanza day, including all my teammates at Brown University that were on the wrestling team and little my uncles, my aunts, everybody everybody was in the stands, right? So it was like the Jimmy Pedro Day.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would say the bronze medal match in Atlanta in 96, because up to that moment, the United States team had not won a medal, had not fought for a medal in the games. We were on our home turf. It was my second Olympic Games, right? So I had competed in 92 and I had won two matches and lost in the third round in Barcelona. I didn't make the podium. I lost to a Japanese guy from Japan. The gold, silver, and bronze medalist at that Olympics in Barcelona were all guys that I had beat. In fact, two of them I was undefeated against in my entire career. The Brazilian and the Cuban, I had never lost two. So that's when I knew I was capable of being on the Podim at the Olympic Games. When 96 came around, I was 25 years old. I was fairly in my prime. I had lived in Japan for six months. My technique was at a high level. amongst the best in the world.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Be wonderful if athletes could buy, you know, even if you could buy your own footage, you can't use it commercially, you can't, but you can buy your own matches and have them available for yourself or package the footage. It would be awesome.”
2021-10-31 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #236 – Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source