Nina Cutro-Kelly oldest American Olympian ever

When USA Judo announced the final U.S. Olympic judo team on Monday, two athletes were added to squad that will compete in Tokyo and it became clear one would make history. Nina Cutro-Kelly is set to become the oldest U.S. judoka in the sport’s 57-year Olympic history. At the 2020 Tokyo Games Cutro-Kelly is definitely not the oldest. Seven athletes are older than the American fighter.

At 36 years and 217 days when the women’s +78kg category competes on July 30, Cutro-Kelly will be some 34 days older than Celita Schutz was at the Athens 2004 Olympics, her third and final Games.

Only three women from any nation have been older than Cutro-Kelly when competing in judo at the Olympics, the leader being Ecuador’s Carmen Chalá who was 42 in 2008.

Cutro-Kelly is a veteran of the sport, competing internationally since 2008 and winning four medals at Pan American championships or Games in that time, but the nine-time U.S. champion will make her Olympic debut in a few weeks.

She and Nefeli Papadakis were awarded Olympic spots in judo’s reallocation process.

Papadakis is ranked No. 30 in the 78kg class in the International Judo Federation’s Olympic ranking, and Cutro-Kelly No. 32.

The 22-year-old Papadakis, whose father emigrated from Greece to attend college in the U.S., is a three-time reigning national champion and three-time continental championship medalist.

2016 Olympians Angelica Delgado, 52kg, and Colton Brown, 90kg, had previously qualified.

The four-person team is the U.S.’ smallest since women’s judo was added to the Olympic program in 1992.

Judo will return to its birthplace of Japan, where it also made its Olympic debut in 1964, this year with seven men’s and seven women’s events, plus an inaugural mixed team event. The U.S. is not entered in mixed team as it requires three men and three women.

Mainly women sustain longer in judo and five women are older than Nina Cutro-Kelly. Sabrina Filzmoser is 41 years young at Games-time,  Miryam Roper and Joana Ramos are 39 . Assmaa Niang is 38 and Melissa Mojica 37 as well as Taciana Cesar who is a few days older.