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Reigning Pan Am Champions Valerie Gotay and Ryan Reser Named Team Captains
By Nicole Jomantas // USA Judo // July 18, 2007
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) – The U.S. Men’s and Women’s Judo Teams named Ryan Reser (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / 73kg) and Valerie Gotay (Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen / 57kg) as Team Captains for the Pan American Games.
Reser and Gotay are both reigning Pan American Champions after winning the 2007 Pan Am Championships in Montreal on May 25.
“It was definitely an honor to be named team captain,” Gotay said. “That’s a decision that comes from the athletes and for both of us it was a unanimous one, so it’s good to know that the other athletes respect me enough to put me into that role.”
Gotay is the only member of the Team that has previously competed at a Pan American Games, having one a silver medal at the 1991 event in Havana, Cuba.
“Honestly, it’s like that was a whole other life and a whole other career. I kind of refer to that period as ‘Before ’92’ because it was just so much different,” said Gotay who retired at age 18 after the 1992 Olympic Games only to come back in 2004 as a mother of two to become one of the top players in the world. “There’s a whole lot more pressure now though because back then it wasn’t an Olympic qualifier, so there’s much more importance to this year’s event.”
Reser was one of the top 10 73kg players in the world in 2006 and a two-time World Cup medalist who, like Gotay, won both the 2005 Pan American Championships in Caguas, Puerto Rico as well as the 2007 Pan Ams. Both athletes also were on the 2005 World Team as well.
“I was the team captain for the 2005 Worlds, so it’s cool that they voted me in again,’ Reser said. “Everything’s been going really well so far. Jason and Israel have done a great job running practices and the team’s all looking forward to Thursday.”
The 2007 Pan American Games is one of the most significant events for Team USA during the quadrennium represent 33% of the qualifying process for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and is the most important of the five qualifying events as it carries double weight.
Judo competition begins on Thursday with the men’s +100kg and women’s +78kg divisions and runs through Sunday at Pavilion 4 in Rio Centro.
For more information, contact Nicole Jomantas, USA Judo Director of Communications and Media Relations, at 011.55.21.8890.3155 or Nicole.Jomantas@usajudo.us.
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