MIAMI -- For Angelica Delgado, switching to a lighter weight division was the true test of her discipline as a judo athlete.
She had to lose 11 pounds.
While working in the kitchen of a gourmet chef.
Not only did Delgado make the transition from 57 kilos (125.4 pounds) to 52 kilos (114.6 pounds), but she also won the national title in her new class. Next she will contend for a World Cup medal at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in a tournament featuring 300 athletes from 43 nations. Then she's off to the world championships in Japan, the birthplace of judo.
Miami's Delgado, 19, is one of four players from USA Judo's National Training Site in Coral Springs who will be competing Friday and Saturday at the Olympic qualifier event.
She's leaner, meaner and hungrier than ever -- for medals, not burgers.
"I have not eaten fast food in months," she said. "And no carbs after 6 p.m."
The 5-3 Delgado decided earlier this year that she did not have the ideal stature to be a champion against taller, stronger players at 57 kilos. So she shed weight and added speed.
"I'm a fatty at heart and I love to eat, so it was a big sacrifice," she said. "But judo is all about sacrifice. It's not going to bring you money or fame in this country. You tell people you're in judo and they say, 'Hi-ya!' because they think it's karate. You have to embrace the hard work of judo to excel."
Delgado works hard 17 hours a day. She's a nursing student at Florida International University. In the morning and again in the evening she drives from her home near FIU to the gym in Coral Springs to train under coaches Jhonny Prado and German Velazco. She works 30 hours a week at Chef's Kitchen near The Falls, a take-out restaurant and catering business run by Hector Baez.
It was Baez who helped Delgado transform her diet and her body. Baez, formerly an Olympic team boxer for Argentina, knows all about the agony of making weight. And he knows even more about healthy food. He was a chef in New York City and at the Grand Bay Hotel in Coconut Grove and has been personal chef to Madonna, Julio Iglesias and Placido Domingo.
"I told Angie she could do more damage at 52 kilos," said Baez, whose 15-year-old daughter Lauren qualified for the U.S. junior world judo team. "I said, 'It's a commitment but I will help you.' She has re-learned how to eat."
Baez gave Delgado a meal plan and cooked for her. A typical breakfast: Oatmeal and fruit. Lunch might be a spinach-mushroom whole-wheat crepe with tomato sauce and salad and dinner might consist of roasted salmon scampi with broccoli and an apple. Plus two snacks per day (a smoothie or a muffin or soup).
"The diet has taught me a lot and made me a better athlete," she said. "My first tournament at 52 I went against the world champion from Cuba and she beat me on penalties because I was stalling and she kept attacking. Now I am much faster, more agile."
Prado said Delgado has improved her chances of making the 2012 Olympic team.
"The discipline changed her personality on the mat," Prado said. "She's more, as we say, evil. At a lighter weight she is more aggressive."
Delgado learned the sport while sparring in the backyard with her father, Miguel Delgado, who was on Cuba's national team before defecting to Miami. Her mother, Teresa, tried to steer Delgado away from the combat sport -- and still has a hard time watching her daughter's matches -- so Delgado tried cheerleading, ballet and acting. But she always came back to judo, even though she wasn't very good at it for years.
"I was the chubby girl on the team," she said. "I weighed 145 pounds at age 14. I was not naturally talented. But I had a passion for it. The thing I worked hardest at I loved the most."
She competed at 57 kilos for four years. Now she and teammate Jeannette Rodriguez, who moved up from 48 kilos, are in the same division.
"I haven't had to fight her yet; we are friends and training partners," Delgado said, describing the atmosphere at the gym. "It's hot, it's smelly, there are holes in the wall from throwing each other into it and our bathroom gets flooded all the time."
But isn't it tempting to come home to a bowl of ice cream?
"Not anymore," Delgado said. "I'll have a grapefruit instead."
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