After losing an Olympic dream a decade ago, USA Judo's Maria Laborde realizes it in Paris

PARIS – At the time, Johnny Prado knew Maria Laborde. Most judo insiders knew about her.

She was a rising star. Ranked third in the world in her weight class. Bound for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where she’d represent her native Cuba.

Then one day, Prado – a judo coach in the United States – got a surprising phone call.

It was Laborde. She had defected from Cuba, traveling to Texas during a tournament in Mexico. She intended to take those qualification points and use them to represent the U.S. in Rio.

“I’m like, 'No, Maria. It doesn't work like that. You need to start from scratch. You need to be an American citizen,’” Prado said.

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With that, Laborde’s Olympic dream nearly died at age 24.

It took until 33 for her to revive it.

Laborde has finally made it. She’ll compete on Saturday in the 48 kg division, having earned a spot in the Paris Olympics with an against-the-odds career refresh that waited on her to become an U.S. citizen in 2022. Despite her initial retirement and lengthy hiatus, she’s likely still Team USA’s best shot at a judo medal in Paris – which makes one wonder what could have been. Just how much success did she miss out on during her 20s?

“I wonder that all the time,” she said.

Leaving family to 'start a new life'

She arrived in the United States on Nov. 28, 2014, headed to Houston after making a difficult, life-altering decision to “give up everything I had before and start a new life.”

Why?

"In Cuba, we don't have so many things,” Laborde explained. “Even if you are a world champion or Olympic champion, it's trouble with everything – food, medicine, the basic stuff we need for athletes. I said, 'Well, maybe if I compete for another country, I can have a better life. And also, I can be able to help my family,' because as Cuban athletes, you can only be able to help so much.”

Laborde hasn’t been back to Cuba since. “They block you for eight years,” she said. “So you cannot come back to the country for eight years.” She could have ended up anywhere in the U.S.

Who’d have guessed Kenosha, Wisconsin?

Years ago, Laborde took a job in Wisconsin teaching mixed martial arts. Harsh winters aside, she said she likes it there. It’s quiet.

Meanwhile, she’s planning a return visit to Cuba after the Olympics, allowing her to finally reunite with family. Like her father or grandmother who she misses terribly.

It was her grandmother – Julia Albarez – who first steered her toward judo at age 12. That was a year after Laborde’s mother Luz Delia died of breast cancer.

“When she passed away,” Laborde said, “I was feeling very lost. That's the thing I started judo for, because I was a really bad kid. I was fighting in school. I was angry all the time. Because my mom was my biggest supporter. Then when she passed away, I really lost myself completely. I was 11 years old.”

An improbable Olympic debut

Judo is a sport. But more accurately, it’s a brawl. They’re scrapping out there, throwing people around, trying to physically survive and impose will on a competitor to win. Takes determination. That suited Laborde from the start, even if she doesn’t look like the brawling type.

She’s barely 5-foot tall. Her weight class in the smallest, as 48 kg equals about 105 pounds.

Back when Laborde first tried judo, she was so small that her first coach in Cuba told her to forget it. Undeterred if not additionally motivated, she kept showing up “every single day,” she said.

“Two months later, I had my first national media,” Laborde said. “And they were so impressed, so surprised, like 'oh wow, you really can do it.' That made me realize judo is for me.”

And it still has been. The past two years, Laborde has routinely ranked in the Top 10 at world events. According to USA Judo, Laborde has been expected to be seeded No. 10 in Paris, the highest of any of the four Americans who qualified for this Olympics.

What Laborde is doing is rare, said Prado (now her coach). That's true in any sport, but especially this one.

“In judo, it's something that if you stop doing the sport, you lose,” Prado said. “You lose skill. You lose your speed. You put on some weight. It's really hard.”

Nonetheless, she’s here. She made it. She’s an Olympian.

And no matter what happens, Laborde can always be proud to say what she did Wednesday in Paris:

“I fulfilled my dreams.”

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.