The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

After falling short in her first attempt in 2016, judoka Cynthia Rahming has made the provisional qualification list for her initial appearance at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

On her return from the Pan American Open in Lima, Peru, over the weekend, Rahming said she was a bit relieved when she saw her name on the provisional list of qualifiers.

“To know that all of my hard work is finally coming to fruition is definitely something to be thankful for,” she stated.

“I am qualified so far through the continental qualification.

“I’ve been working on it for a while, so a lot of prayers have been answered in a way,” she added.

Accompanied by sensei Omri Kelly, Rahming placed fifth at the Pan American Peru Open out of a field of 10 competitors in the -57 kilogram class.She eventually defeated the Peruvian national champion Kiara Arango Miranda 7-5 in her second match, but went on to lose 4-1 to Marcia Perisic of Serbia in the bronze medal match.

In her opening match, Rahming lost 5-3 to American Shadi Ebrahim.

Having already participated in the Youth Olympic Games, the Central American and Caribbean Games and the Commonwealth Games, Rahming is hoping that she can complete the cycle by qualifying for the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, July 26 to August 11 and eventually the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, July 24 to August 9, 2020.

For the latter, Rahming will have until May, 2020 in order to secure her berth into the Olympics. Her father, Darcy Rahming Sr - the president of the Bahamas Judo Federation - said it would be a dream come true if she qualifies. “It’s been a very long, tough journey and I’m very excited for her because I know she stuck with it and worked to get to where she is right now,” Rahming Sr said.

“We are seeing that actually play out after years and years of hard work. We see her start to win more tournaments, having just had some success in Peru and so we are very excited, both as a father and the federation, that we could have an Olympian.”

If she gets to the Olympics, Rahming Sr said they would be extremely proud if she can go all the way and get on the podium for a medal.

Rahming, who turns 25 on May 22, has been in the sport for the past 12-14 years. She had a chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but she wasn’t able to accumulate sufficient points to qualify to place in the rankings.

“I believe my attitude has certainly made a difference,” said Rahming about her approach to qualifying for next year’s Olympics. “I have been trying to question why I really do judo and why I am pursuing it and I found out that it was my attitude and that didn’t help motivate me. But this time around, I am super motivated to win some medals and to get to the Olympics.”

In her quest to continue her road to Japan, Rahming is hoping to secure the funding to compete in the Pan American Tour where the next competition will be in Chile in two weeks. The tour ends in the summer in Canada. “I’ve been doing a lot of gym work trying to get my strength to be a lot higher than what it is,” she said. “I am pretty much on par strength wise in the Pan Am region, but I want to be a beast, so I’m training extremely hard.

“I am also trying to change my outcome in the matches, so I’ve been focusing on the areas where I could improve and where I have been going wrong. I’m drilling that in practice.”

Rahming thanked her family, the federation and her coaches, sensei Omri Kelly, who works with her on the mat in competition, sensei Oneysi Pons, her judo coach, Bradley Cooper, her gym coach, and her training partner Andrew Munnings.