In the world of competitive Judo, San Jose State University is known for producing Olympic athletes and this year is no exception.
At 26, Marti Malloy, a SJSU graduate will represent Team USA in the 57 kilogram weight class in London. Malloy is a serious force of agility, speed and strength.
"My strength," she said with a grin and a pause, "is definitely my strength."
Mike Swain, an assistant coach at SJSU and three-time Olympian and bronze medalist, has trained Malloy for years. He said she has all the right stuff to come home with a medal. "She's beat some of the best girls in the world, and I think she's got a really strong chance to medal and on the right day she could win the gold medal."
Malloy is ranked 10th in the world, despite suffering a recent injury.
"I really kind of messed up my shoulder, what the specialist told me is I took a hammer to it basically," Malloy said.
She has since recovered and Malloy says she feels better than ever and is ready to show the world her strength, something she wasn't able to do in 2008.
Four years ago, she just missed making the Olympic team, instead going to Beijing as a training partner.
"I got to sit in the crowd every day watching Judo and girls that I've beaten, fight at the Olympic level," Malloy said. "To come that close and not to have made it has made this Olympics much more of a goal of mine."
For a woman who has spent a lifetime to get to this point, Malloy is going to do everything in her power to make sure she is at the top of her game.
"I'm 26 this year so it will be 20 years I've been doing judo," Malloy said. "That's how long it took me to make the Olympic team."
To see a slideshow of Marti Malloy, click here. And to read a Q&A with her by NBCOlympics, click here.
WEB EXTRA: Marti Malloy's coach, Mike Swain, talks about being an in-house judo commentator during the Olympic games.
View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.
Watch Malloy's full story tonight on NBC Bay Area at 6.
