SVENSON INKS OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST TO PORTRAY WOMEN’S JUDO - TopicsExpress



          

SVENSON INKS OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST TO PORTRAY WOMEN’S JUDO ADVOCATE Los Angeles, January 30, 2014 - Actor/writer/producer Bo Svenson has signed Kayla Harrison, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in judo, to portray the renowned Jewish-American judo expert from Brooklyn, Rusty Kanokogi, nee Rena Glickman, in the motion picture penned by Svenson entitled “DON’T CALL ME SIR!” A fiery advocate for women’s equality, Rusty first made history in 1959 when, then a single mother, she disguised herself as a man and won the New York State YMCA judo championships but was forced to return the medal when she was discovered to be a woman. Later a mother of three, and a recipient of Japans highest civilian honor, The Order of The Rising Sun, Rusty never called herself a feminist, yet her efforts on behalf of women in sports led to women’s judo becoming an Olympic sport in 1988. Rusty was revered by Billie Jean King and many other accomplished athletes for having paved the way for womens sports being more on par with mens. Kayla Harrison, now 23, made history at the 2012 Olympics in London by winning the first Gold Medal by any American, man or woman, in the history of the sport of judo. It is an odd coincidence that Kayla will now portray Rusty as Kayla was in 2009 a recipient of the “Rusty Kanokogi Fund for the Advancement of US Judo” from Billie Jean King’s “Women’s Sports Foundation”. Svenson, who is a high-ranking black belt in several martial arts and at 72 still competes in national as well as world championships in judo, acquired the life story rights to Rusty from her daughter, Jean Kanokogi, eldest daughter of Rusty and judo master Ryohei Kanokogi. DONT CALL ME SIR! is being produced by Svensons Hollywood-based company MagicQuest with which Svenson also produced and directed LEGACY with Dennis Hopper. Production is slated for Coney Island and surroundings this August through September. Because Kayla trains in the #Boston area with renowned judo coaches Jimmy Pedro Sr. and Jr., the movies world premiere is slated for Boston.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 22:21:02 +0000

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