As a child, Katie Mocco was taught that athleticism and striving for excellence were virtuous qualities but as the only girl in a family of champion wrestlers she tended to be overlooked. At the time her brothers were competing, wrestling just wasn’t an option for girls’ athletics (times have changed and now 5,000 girls participate in high school wrestling). Mocco was dragged along from one tournament to the next as her brothers soaked up all the glory. Katie got her lucky break when brother Steven, a former NCAA heavyweight champ, started taking judo to supplement his wrestling. Finally, a sport she could compete in and excel at. Excel she did, to the extent that she is currently #1 on the U.S. Olympic team in her weight class (Half Middleweight). Brother Steven just happens to be competing at Beijing, too, and is a hopeful in the freestyle wrestling event.
Mocco has been competing on the national level since 2001. In the 2007 season alone, she earned a gold medal at the Benito Juarez Championships, silver at the U.S. Open and a bronze at National Championships. In 2005 she was crowned National Champion. Though judo has been practiced in Japan since the late 19th century, it is a relatively new combat sport in the U.S. It has only been an Olympic event since 1964 and the women’s event didn’t show up until 1992. Japan is by far the leader in Olympic gold medals, followed by France and Korea. Mocco is doing her part to bring more attention to the sport in the U.S.
Raised in North Bergen, New Jersey, Katie has taken up residence in Glenville, New York where she trains with coach Jason Morris at the USA Judo National Training Site. She likes to read, shop and play poker in her limited spare time. She is currently on leave from the University of Iowa with plans to major in Political Science and eventually attend law school. "Becoming an athlete changed my life in so many ways. Through judo I learned the value of hard work, focus and dedication, for which I am forever grateful,” Katie says. When asked if she was superstitious on the days she competes, Mocco says she’s the judoka sporting the pink undies under her judogi (which translates to “the judo player who wears pink undies under her uniform”).
