Beijing, China - – Jason Morris Judo Center (Glenville, NY) athlete Travis Stevens placed ninth in 81kg at his first Olympic Games. Stevens opened his day with a dominant win over Franklin Ceisneros (ESA) as he scored a couple times before arm barring (submission) his opponent to move into the second round. Stevens then faced eventual champ and 10x World Cup medalist and former European Champion Ole Bischof (GER). The match was a back and forth battle that the experienced German managed to win 2 shidos (penalties) to one. In one of the day’s biggest upsets, Bischof then dispatched reigning World Champion Tiago Camilo (BRA) in the quarter-finals which kept Stevens’ medal hopes alive as he moved down to the repechage where athletes can fight through for bronze. An uneducated spectator never would have known that Stevens’ next opponent, Mehman Azizov (AZE), was a 17-time World Cup medalist who placed fifth in Athens as Stevens controlled the entire match from the first minute. Azizov was awarded the first penalty of the match and a pair of penalties for both players soon followed before Stevens threw Azizov for a waza-ari (half-point) score. In the final minute, Azizov still hadn’t attacked and was given a third penalty which, combined with the throw for a waza-ari earlier in the match, combined to give Stevens the win with 54 seconds remaining. Stevens’ next opponent was Camilo who won the 2007 World Championships in spectacular fashion, throwing all of his opponents for ippon (instant win). Down by two penalties, Stevens was thrown by Camilo for a koka score, but still didn’t give up, nearly tying the match with a throw (uchimata) that was scored as a yuko in the fourth minute. Camilo barely held onto the narrow lead for the final 60 seconds to win the match while Stevens placed ninth. Camilo would continue on the win a bronze medal. "Jason really had a great game plan for me and I was able for the most part to stick with it and be competitive with the top guys" Stevens said following his impressive performance. "Travis fought extremely well and nearly pulled off a couple huge upsets not to mention knocking off Azizov who is a quality player and who he lost to earlier this year at the French Open" Head coach, Jason Morris remarked. "This is certainly a great result for Travis and am excited for his future" Morris continued. “I’m going to go back to the village and go for a run tonight and then do a workout tomorrow I want to get right back into training and go through the tapes. If you wait a month, you start to forget things so I’m staying through freestyle wrestling and then I want to get back in the dojo.” said Stevens who plans to return to international competition in the fall with stops at the U.S. Open and Rendezvous Canada as well as a trip to fight in Europe at the Finnish and Swedish Opens.