I didn’t think I would make it.

Maria Liana Mutia
USA Judo – Blind Judoka
-63 Kg

I didn’t think I would make it.

I’m not the best of the best when it comes to athletics, and with only seven years of judo under my belt — I started learning judo at the age of fifteen — I have nowhere near the level of technique to match up to my fellow competitors. After a labral hip injury in 2017, followed by a string of bad tournament results at 57 kg, and constant stress from school, I almost decided to leave the sport entirely.

Then one of my training partners gave me a word of advice in 2019: fight up at -63 kg and see if being faster, though smaller, but not drained from a weight cut would allow me to qualify there.

I won gold at the 2020 IBSA Pan American Championships. And after a year off due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I went on to take fifth in the 2021 IBSA Baku Grand Prix and then took bronze in the 2021 IBSA Warwick Grand Prix, winning against the Swedish four-time Paralympian to be on the medal stand. I directly qualified for the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics at #10 in the world.

Thank you to my parents for their unconditional love, support, and seemingly endless boxes of tea leaves that they send me. Thank you to my sister, Elizabeth, for teaching me how to relax with chickens and chasing after our dogs for me when they stole my rashguards. Thank you to my selfie-loving, jewelry-in-the-gym-wearing training partner for helping me recover through surgery, training alongside me, and being my eyes. Thank you to Coach Saby for coaching me in wrestling at Millbrook High School, thank you to Sensei Doug Tono for pushing me through hours and hours of sparring, and thank you to Sensei Chester Evans for never giving up on me.

Now I work smarter, not harder.

Now it’s time to fight.

Tokyo 2021 Olympics / Paralympics