James Steven Bregman (born November 17, 1941, in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

) was a member of the first American team to compete in

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. He is an Olympic bronze medalist, a world championships bronze medalist, a

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

gold medalist, and a

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

gold medalist.

Biography

He is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He started Judo at the age of 12 and went to college in Japan. In 1964 he won the AAU Senior National Judo Championship. Judo was first in included in the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

in Tokyo, and Bregman won a bronze medal in the under 80 kg category in those games—the only American to bring home a medal in judo in the 1964 Summer Games. The judo world sometimes speaks with pride of the 1964 US Olympic Judo Team as consisting of an American Jew, an African-American, a Japanese-American, and a Native American (see Nishioka's book in the references, below). In 1965 he won a gold medal at the

Pan American Championships A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the most ...

in the 176 pound division. He also won a gold medal in the

1965 Maccabiah Games The 7th Maccabiah Games in 1965 saw 1,500 athletes from 29 different countries compete in 21 sports. It was the first Maccabiah Games for Iran, Jamaica, Peru, and Venezuela. The United States delegation won the most gold medals, followed by Israel, ...

in Israel. Additionally, in 1965, Jim Bregman became the first American to win a medal in the World Championships held in São Paulo, Brazil. He won another Bronze at that competition. Bregman has continued to be involved in the American judo community, serving three times as President of the

United States Judo Association The United States Judo Association is a sports association in the United States. It was formed in 1969 following a reorganization of the Armed Forces Judo Association, and is one of three national judo associations in the United States, the othe ...

the organization which helped found in 1968. In January 2018, Bregman was promoted to the highest judo rank of Judan (10th Degree Black Belt) by th
United States Judo Association

References

External links

* Nishioka, Hayward (2000) ''Judo: Heart and Soul'' Ohara Publications.
An interview with Jim Bregman
on th
JudoInfo.com
web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Bregman, James Steven 1941 births Living people People from Arlington County, Virginia Jewish American sportspeople American male judoka Jewish martial artists Judoka at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of the United States Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in judo Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Competitors at the 1965 Maccabiah Games Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Maccabiah Games medalists in judo 21st-century American Jews

Biography

See also

References

External links