Kayla Harrison made American Olympic History by winning her second consecutive Gold Medal in Judo at the Rio Olympics.

According to an article from USA Today, Kayla Harrison obliterated through her competition winning all four of her matches with the equivalent of what would be a knockout in Judo.  Two of her matches only lasted for TWO MINUTES.

Harrison says she is retiring after these Olympics….from Judo.  What’s next on the horizon may have something to do with her sparring partner Ronda Rousey.

Sexual Abuse Advocate

Yes Kayla Harrison’s athletic accomplishments are amazing but during her NBC interview what I found to be most inspiring was her dedication to helping to stop sexual abuse.

Harrison was abused by her former coach from the time she was 13 years old. Harrison has said that her coach sexually abused her for 3 years.  This is what she told the Telegraph in 2012:

“It was devastating. When I was young, he would say, ‘We have to keep this between us or we will get into trouble’ and, honestly, as I got older, I was pretty brainwashed.”

A Slate magazine article said that her breaking point came at age 16 when the coach went on a cruise with another woman.

I had wanted it to end for a long time … but I also thought that I loved him and that was betraying him—me wanting it to end,” she said. “So when that happened, I saw it as my escape.”

Her mother eventually found out and called the police and the coach was sentenced to prison.

When I watched her interview she was adamant about getting education out about sexual abuse.  She said that there is education about bullying and all sorts of other issues but we need to get education out about abusers grooming victims and getting people to speak out about what’s going on behind the scenes.

Here’s what she had to say in 2012

For years, there’s been a kind of taboo about being a victim. I remember

[after I came forward] reading online judo forums and people insinuating ‘well, we don’t know if she’s telling the truth,’ and that devastated me. Because of this taboo our society places on being the victim, I couldn’t look in the mirror and had no self-esteem. Now I can’t imagine not speaking up against that. It’s so wrong and I don’t want others to have to suffer what I did. … For me, having [the 2012 Olympics] to strive for allowed me to say, ‘You did it, you got through it, despite everything.’ I was able to look back and reflect that nothing can stop me.

We salute her for her athletic accomplishments but most of all her decision to give hope and education to other victims of abuse.  This is the very definition of FIERCE

Rio Results

Judo:  Gold