Olympic judo champion Kayla Harrison met Vladimir Putin in Moscow at the First World Olympic Forum in Moscow. Harrison was delighted to be invited for the forum and to meet briefly with one of the most powerful people in the world. Harrison joined athletes representing five continents and the chiefs of the International Olympic Committee to sign a declaration to establish the independence of athletes from politics.
Harrison reacted: “What a pleasure to meet another judoka who loves the sport as much as I do. Just talking about judo One of the greatest things about the Olympic movement and the Olympics is that it is above politics,” she said.
At the forum the elite members in sports were together such as IOC president Bach and many IOC members such as Sergey Bubka.
America’s first American Olympic judo champion had the opportunity to meet with the Russian Federation president and talk about judo. “He was in the stands the day I won and we talked about that and the differences between judo in the U.S. and Russia.”
Next in Harrison’s tour is Qingdao, Jeju and Tokyo moving forward to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. “I’ll finish the tournament season, then take a break for Christmas before the last big push to Rio. I want to retire as the greatest ever,” she said. “I think I’ve still got something left in the tank and my goal is to leave a legacy in the world of judo.”
