Paris 2024: Upset Win Propels Jayne to Round of 16 at Paris Olympic Games
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by Bill Kellick
PARIS, France - John Jayne (Chicago, Ill.) had a gameplan for the Paris 2024 Olympic judo competition…send a shockwave through the men’s -90kg field early…and that’s exactly what he did Wednesday at the Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Entering the tournament as the #32 seed, Jayne upset #9 seed Christian Parlati of Italy in his opening match, throwing the Italian for an ippon (instant win) 2:29 into their contest.
"That was pretty spectacular,” said Jayne after his first match. “When the draw came out, I was telling myself, telling my girlfriend, telling everybody, 'I want a hard draw. I want to cause an upset, right at the start'. That's the best win of my career. I came out and I dominated. He didn't get a single attack in.”
In his round of 16 match against Korea’s Juyeon Han, Jayne again went toe-to-toe with his higher-ranked opponent until the final two seconds when Han was able to score a waza-ari (half point) for the victory.
“It was absolutely heartbreaking to lose in the last second. If they score at the start or midway you have time to fight for that last score, but just for it to end in the last second there’s nothing you can do. You just have to realize it’s over.”
Despite the second-round loss, Jayne was thrilled with the entire Olympic experience.
“I’m out here living the dream. This is a dream I’ve been living for, training for. I’ve enjoyed the last eight weeks of training so much preparing for this. Even out there on the mat, the crowd is fantastic. Even if you lose, you have to enjoy it. It’s not every day that you get to fight on the Olympic mat, and it was exhilarating out there.”
Jayne is also leaving Paris with confidence gained and looking ahead to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“Everyone here is tough to beat. I think I proved today that I am definitely up there with the top guys and I’m very proud of that. Fighting on that Olympic mat was just an experience that was something else. I didn’t think it would be so different, but it really was, so I want to be out there again.”
Jayne, Maria Laborde (Kenosha, Wis. / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) in the women’s-48kg division and Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) in the women’s -52kg division all reached the round of 16 at the Paris Games for the U.S. Judo Team, while Jack Yonezuka (West Long Branch, N.J. / NYAC / Cranford JKC) lost in the round of 32 in the men’s -73kg competition.
