U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : NOTEBOOK : Every Judo Victory Moves Okada Closer to Barcelona in ’92

Tony Okada of Stanton says he’ll be leaving Tuesday for the Greco-Roman world wrestling championships in Barcelona, but a return trip to Spain next July--and not as a wrestler--is what he’s really after.

Okada took a step toward that goal late Saturday night when he won the men’s 132-pound title in the judo competition at Cal State Dominguez Hills in the U.S. Olympic Festival.

On the way to the championship, Okada, competing for the East team, defeated defending champion Ed Liddie of Colorado Springs in the second round. Runner-up to Liddie in the Festival last year, Okada’s victory Saturday was doubly significant because of its potential effect on his path to an Olympic berth.

Okada had lost to Liddie five consecutive times before defeating him in the Pacific Rim championships three weeks ago in Hawaii. Okada still trails Liddie in the national rankings but is closing the gap. And the top-ranked competitors will have an edge when the Olympic selection process begins, needing to win fewer matches than those below them to make the team.

“I just have to keep beating him and get ahead of him,” Okada said Sunday.

With an Olympic trip at stake, one might think Okada would forget wrestling for a while and concentrate on judo. But Okada, a two-time state high school wrestling champion while at Savanna, says competing in both presents no problem.

“When I’m training for one, it helps the other,” he said.

Okada said he is going to pass on school for a year to concentrate mostly on judo. After next summer--which he hopes will include the ultimate field trip for an athlete--”I figure I’ll end up wrestling for a school somewhere.”