The 2012 Summer Olympics are filled with inspiring stories of athletes overcoming odds. Few have triumphed over adversity like Kayla Harrison, who won the gold medal in women's judo on Thursday.

Harrison could have easily quit judo after her early experiences. She was sexually abused by her coach as a youth. When that ordeal was over with, she doubled down on her commitment to the sport, finding it to be a means to heal, and moved to Wakefield, Ma., for an intensive training program. Her gold medal victory over Gemma Gibbons from Great Britain at the London Olympics makes for the perfect ending to one chapter and the start of another.

This was the first time in Olympic history that the United States won a gold medal in Judo.

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