Jim Bregman
James Steven Bregman was a member of the first American team to compete in judo in the Summer Olympics. He is of the Jewish faith. 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 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.
In 1965 he won a gold medal at the Pan American Championships in the 176 pound division. He also won a gold medal in the Maccabiah Games that year.
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 organization which helped found in 1968.
In January 2018, Bregman was promoted to the highest judo rank of Judan by the .
