Delpopolo Has Sights Set On Olympic Team

Twenty-two-year-old Nick Delpopolo, son of Cranford High School teacher Joyce Delpopolo, went 5-0 to win gold at the GB World Cup.He has his sights set on the 2012 US Olympic team.

Nick was the first judo match of the tournament and he defeated David Gonzales of Spain to advance to the second round against Jan Gosiewski. Delpopolo was held scoreless by the Brit for a full five minutes but needed only nine seconds in overtime to score another yuko and take the victory.

Moving into the quarter final Nick squared off against Marcelo Contini, Delpopolo found himself in another golden score match and needed a full eight minutes to defeat Contini by unanimous decision. In the semi final Nick faced Miguel Romero of Spain. Nick led the match by a "yuko" off of two penalties given to Romero, then with 15 seconds left in the bout Nick footswept Romero for a huge "ippon" that brought the stadium to its feet.

Fittingly, Nick's gold medal match was the last match of the day. Emmanuel Nartey was the only man standing in the way of Delpopolo and a gold medal. The match started off with Nartey lifting Delpopolo high in the air with an "ippon seoi-nage" that Nick was able to spin out of. Delpopolo answered back by knocking Nartey down with a big switch attempt that Nartey avoided by "taking a seat on his bum." With 1:20 remaining, Nick dropped under Nartey with "morote seoi nage" and then stood up and buried him with ko-ouchi for a ippon to become the first American man to win this World Cup.

Nick had this to say of his gold medal performance: "I recently relocated back to the Jason Morris Judo Center in NY, where the team is outfitted in black and silver sweats and also plays heavy metal music during training. As I was walking out onto the mat in the finals AC/DC's 'Back in Black' started playing and I had a conscious thought in my head that it was a sign," laughed Delpopolo. "I want to take this opportunity to thank Jason and Teri for helping me find my groove again."

Morris had this to say of Delpopolo's victory: "I'm very excited for Nick as this is a terrific win for him, coming off of a disappointing finish at the Worlds Nick's confidence was low and this is just the thing to get the ball rolling in the right direction again and a solid mental boost for the rest of the season."