[Sly Fox]

From the liberal Washington fishwrap:

The Beauty Is a Beast
Rising Judo Star Allan Is a 'Girlie Girl,' But She'll Throw You for a Loop

By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 16, 2006; Page E01

Twenty judo players (judoka) circled to stretch and warm up, but Kristen Allan sat in the corner of the gym and sifted through her purse. She pulled out a small mirror and lifted it six inches from her face. "Ugh," Kristen said. "I so need makeup right now." She used a black brush to highlight her cheekbones. Then Kristen combed her long blonde hair away from her face and tightened her judo robe.

Momentarily content with her appearance -- there was, after all, a photographer at practice -- Kristen trotted onto the mat to greet her sparring partner, Leah Fisher. Kristen smiled and bowed. Then she picked up Fisher and twirled the 130-pound woman like a weightless baton, flipping her head over heels before slamming her into the ground. Kristen grunted with satisfaction, and her neck muscles bulged. Sweat trickled down her face.


Springfield's Kristen Allan, here throwing practice partner Leah Fisher, has her sights set on making the 2008 U.S. Olympic judo team. (Joel Richardson - The Post)

"Oh no," Kristen said. "I don't want to get all gross and dirty."

Genetics practically forced Kristen, 23, into this paradox. She spent 19 years searching hard for something to be good at, something that would mesh with her occasional prissiness. She tried pole vaulting, ice skating, dancing, horseback riding, diving and gymnastics. She went to Liberty University in Lynchburg and majored in psychology. She worked odd jobs at a dentist's office, a restaurant and a bowling alley -- just "to do something unexpected and different," she said.

But despite her best efforts, Kristen ended up back in Alexandria doing what is considered typical in the Allan family. By training twice each day, Kristen has become a contender to make the 2008 Olympic judo team despite having only three years of competitive experience. She's coached by her father, Maurice, a former European champion and a 1976 Olympian. Her mother, Traci, is a judo brown belt who has sometimes served as Kristen's training partner.

"I never thought I would end up getting serious about judo," said Kristen, who competes this weekend in the world championships in Paris. "I always thought it was pretty fun, but I never got too excited about it. It was just something that was always there, but it's almost like I was just destined to get really into it."

It's hard to escape judo in the Allans' home in Springfield. A framed medal hangs in the entry hallway commemorating Maurice as a Most Excellent Order of the British Empire -- one distinction below knighthood -- for his contribution to martial arts. Family pictures show various poses in judo robes. The primary non-judo accoutrement still reflects competitiveness: A foosball table, not a television, functions as the centerpiece of the family room.

Maurice became a Scottish cult hero of sorts in the 1970s by dominating several sports. He won the seven Scottish judo championships and four European championships. On a whim, he signed up to compete in the 1975 world championship of sombo, a Russian martial art -- and placed first. He was favored to win at the 1976 Olympics as a wrestler before dislocating his shoulder in an early match.

Thirty years later, Maurice still looks imposing. He has a sharp chin and a bushy mustache, and he likes to cross his muscular arms in front of his chest like a bouncer. Maurice runs SportJudo, a gym in Alexandria, and he teaches martial arts and self-defense at a police academy. He considers himself more of a judo ambassador than an instructor.

"I believe judo is the greatest sport there is," Maurice said. "It has something for everybody: exercise and discipline and self-defense. There's no reason not to love it."

Kristen never bought into that logic until she moved out of Maurice's reach. She went to her father's judo classes occasionally during elementary school, but she never cared for the sport until a boyfriend expressed interest in it three years ago. Kristen, then a sophomore at Liberty, showed him the moves she remembered from her childhood. "All the sudden it came rushing back," Kristen said. "It was like: 'Wait a second, I could be good at this. I should give it a serious try.' "

What happened next resembled an athletic career in fast forward. Kristen spent the summer after her sophomore year training casually with Maurice and decided she wanted to make the Olympics. She spent a semester driving back from Liberty to Alexandria every weekend to take judo classes. Then, after the first semester of her junior year, she dropped out of school and moved into an apartment near home to train full-time.

"We all felt a lot of skepticism that this wasn't going to last, that she wouldn't really stick with it," said Traci Allan. "We thought her attention would get diverted -- a boyfriend, another sport, something like that. But she has literally put judo as the first priority over anything else, even her social life."

Kristen makes for a disarming judoka, male training partners said, because she can steal their breath twice. She's a good-looking, long-haired blonde with an easy smile. She's also an aggressive, attacking competitor who sometimes knocks the wind out of 170-pound men in practice with her fierce throws.

Kristen worries about problems that most judoka hardly notice. She hates it when the combat sport leaves her knuckles gnarly and bruised. A doctor drains the blood clots that form in her ears to prevent cauliflower ear, an uncomfortable and unsightly deformation. She worries that her skull will change shape because it takes such consistent beatings.

"I call her a real girlie girl," said Andy Smith, Kristen's active release technique chiropractor. "She's always worried about how she's going to look, if her ears and her forehead are going to look different. She's kind of delicate like that."

She's also ferocious, especially when it comes to her training. Kristen runs about four times each week, lifts most mornings and practices judo and jujitsu almost every night. She's morphed, over the past three years, from a self-described slender, 110-pound "cheerleader type" to a compact 138 pounds. "She's like a brick," Traci said. "When I hug her, it's like grabbing a tree. There's no give in her body."

Maurice has taught Kristen to fight in his image, which means she is almost always the aggressor. In the 63-kilogram division, Kristen has ascended to second in the United States largely because of her relentless, attacking style.

"She gets in people's heads because she never stops coming at you," said Katie Mocco, ranked first in the United States in the 70-kilogram division. "When you're fighting her, it's really annoying. It's like, 'Geez, just relax and take a break for a second.' "

Kristen's competition for the 2008 Olympics essentially boils down to Ronda Rousey, a 2004 Olympian widely considered the country's best judoka. Kristen has lost all four of her career matches against Rousey, but each became more competitive than the last. To eclipse Rousey, Kristen's schedule consists of a mad scramble for experience. In the last year, she trained in Belgium, France, Canada, Colorado, California, New York, Texas and Boston.

"I'm trying to catch up because I haven't been doing this for half as long as everybody else," Kristen said. "A lot of these other girls have been doing judo their whole lives. It's kind of like I'm rushing to get there. For me, everything has to be a little more intense."

Said Maurice: "The most important thing for her is to be exposed to as many great players as possible. The better she becomes, the more we know what she's really capable of. She's already proven that she has the natural talent. She picks everything up so quickly it's like she was meant to be doing this."

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[Jasmen8182]

See, it's ok to be a "Miss Priss" and still enjoy things that seem contradictory, like outdoorsy stuff....
My mother and sister used to label me that as I noticed in panic a little spot on my dress on the way to church. On the contradictory side- I owned a cow once, helped my grandfather pitch hay or clean sometimes, loved romping through the woods hurdling rocks.... Nowadays I have to remind myself that I DO have some Mary Kay to put on; taking time to paint nails is an occassional thing, usually prompted by my little lady; hair cuts get put off....
Unlike Kristen... I am the only one in my family to never have had blonde hair; my sister grew up with it- she doesn't like pink (too fem.), will avoid asking for help in an automotive store (to avoid appearing "ditsy")....