Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the Forging of Champions | Lex Fridman Podcast #236

The following is a conversation with Jimmy Pedro, a legendary judo competitor and coach. He represented the United States at four Olympics, in '92, '96, 2000, and 2004, winning a bronze medal at two of them. He medaled in three world championships, winning gold in 1999. He has coached many of the elite level American judoka, including Kayla Harrison, Ronda Rousey, Travis Stevens, and many others. Plus, he's now my judo coach, along with Travis Stevens. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, here's my conversation with Jimmy Pedro. What is the most beautiful throw in judo to you?

I think uchimata. You know, it's the, it's the one that seems to have the most amplitude. The person goes the highest, you see a leg swing through the middle, uh, the person doing the throw, there's a leg swinging through the middle. The other person definitely goes, you know, head over heels flat on their back. Um, it's probably the most dynamic pretty judo throw there is.

Okay, so it's a single... You're staying on a single foot and you're raising your other foot in the air, and it's a forward throw, which means the, uh, your, your back is facing the opponent, but, uh, they kind of both fly through the air and twist through the air.

Correct.

Yeah, so how does that throw work? What are the principles behind that throw? It's one of those throws that, um, you know, people can kind of understand how to pick up another human being in sort of trivial ways. But the uchimata to me never quite made sense, like why it works. There, there's a, there's a quirk, there's a twisting motion.

Mm-hmm.

There's some involvement of the hip-

Mm-hmm.

... but not, it's not really a hip throw because the hip is not all the way over, so it's not... It, it, it's a very confusing throw to me.

(laughs)

I'm trying to s- can you say something more-

It's probably one of the most difficult throws to learn as well because it is so complex. You do have to stand on one leg, balance on one leg, you know, swing your other leg through the middle, hold your opponent up in the air. And it's, and it's hard to, it's hard to make that contact with upper body to your, to your back, you know. You have to turn your back on the throw as well. So how does it work? Um, it's definitely sort of a, a throw where you need to start pulling your opponent's upper body towards you, right? So their upper body starts coming towards you. Your legs go towards them as your body starts to go, uh, to, into the throw.

Mm-hmm.

So your head is gonna go left, let's say. Your body, your leg's gonna go to the right, your body's g- your partner's gonna start to lean towards you. And just as you start to get their momentum coming forward, your leg is gonna sweep up underneath theirs, pick 'em up onto your hip, right? And then the finish of the throw is a twist. And a lot of times the good judoka will leave their feet when they do the throw. So both bodies are in the air together, and then the thrower comes down on top of the person being thrown.