Olympic Gold Medalist Trains at Windham Resident's Gym

The 2012 London Olympics were not the first time that Windham resident Paul Soucy watched a client from his gym end up on a podium.

But this year's games did mark one significant accomplishment for Soucy's North Andover-based facility – it was the first time a client took home the gold.

Kayla Harrison, 22, currently of Wakefield, Mass., captured that gold on Aug. 2 in the 78Kg women's division of the Judo competition. It was also the first time an American, man or woman, won gold in the sport of Judo.

"It was one of the great experiences of my life to watch her win gold" Soucy said, explaining that he watched her online with his 8-year-old son right next to him. He was unable to head to London to watch the feat in person due to his commitment to his children, although he said that he would have loved to have been there.

But for Soucy, the process of training Harrison is "really no different" than any other athlete who walks through his doors.

"I've got a lot of customers that range from 16 all the way to 90," he said. "I really don't treat them any different than anybody else."

But it's not the first time somebody who has trained at Soucy's gym has grabbed a medal. Soucy watched former athlete Jimmy Pedro grab a bronze at the 2004 Athens games. Pedro now works as Harrison's coach.

She came to Pedro when she was 16 years old, escaping sexual abuse from her first trainer in Middletown, Ohio.

Soucy said that it was something Harrison confronted head on before the games, speaking to media outlets such as Time magazine before achieving Olympic glory.

"As a strength coach, I could not make the assumption that Kayla or Jimmy would be the strongest, quickest or most powerful athlete on the mat," Soucy said. "I had to be sure that both Kayla and Jimmy could outlast any athlete on the mat for the maximum length of a match and for five or six matches in a day to win a gold."

Harrison bested 25-year-old Gemma Gibbons, who was competing on her home turf of Great Britain, to get the top honor. Audrey Tcheumeo, 22, of France captured the bronze medal.

Before the London gold, Harrison also took home a junior world title in 2008 and a senior world title in 2010. Before his 2004 bronze, Pedro won the 1999 World Judo title.

"Kayla and Jimmy both have enormous hearts and the drive and will to do the work required," Soucy said.

Soucy's gym, One-To-One Strength Training, has been operating since 1991, and helps to train both high school and college bound athletes.

Pedro trains his athletes at a separate dojo in Wakefield, Mass., giving those he works with the option to either work out on their own or go to Soucy's gym for barely any cost.

Soucy also said that Pedro has some promising young athletes that he is currently grooming for the 2016 games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

The attached video features comments from Harrison and Pedro following her groundbreaking victory on Aug. 2.