- AnnMaria De Mars, was born AnnMaria Burns on August 15, 1958 at Scott Air Field Base in Alton, Illinois. De Mars is a Rokudan (6th Degree Blackbelt), and was the first American to win a Gold medal at the 1984 World Judo Championships in Vienna. She is the mother to four daughters - sports journalist Maria Burns Ortiz, Jennifer Rousey, Olympic Bronze Medalist and UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey, and Julia DeMars. De Mars is of Venezuelan descent.
As a child, AnnMaria admits to being a short, fat, little kid that wore thick glasses, spent all her time sitting in her room, eating, and reading books. Her three brothers gave her the nickname "Stumpy" because she was built like a tree stump. AnnMaria's mother demanded she do some type of physical activity, so at the age of 12, she began training in Judo at the local YMCA.
De Mars won her first judo competition, the USJA Nationals, at the age of 16. That same year she attended Washington University in St. Louis as a Business Major. At age 18 she enrolled in the university foreign exchange program, which enabled her to attend Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. While there, she studied Judo under Sensei Osawa, one of the most respected Judo instructors in the world.
In 1978 she graduated with a degree in business, won the U.S. Judo Senior and Collegiate Nationals, as well as the U.S. Open. De Mars then earned an MBA in 1980 from the University of Minnesota. Returning to Judo in 1981, she took the Bronze in the Tornoi d'Orleans and British Open Tournaments. In 1982 she was ranked #1 in the USJI rankings and won the US Open. She then took a year off to give birth to daughter Maria. During this time she finished her academic studies, graduating with a MA and PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of California, Riverside.
Throughout 1983 and 1984 De Mars competed in various Judo tournaments - the Pan American Games, the US Open, the Austrian Open, Canada Cup, and the US Senior Nationals. Coming out of retirement, she won the 1984 World Judo Championships. De Mars then retired from Judo competition to raise her family and pursue a career in education and business.
In 2013 Forbes listed De Mars on its annual "40 Women to Watch Over 40". She is CEO of 7 Generation Games and The Julia Group. She is also an author, blogger, statistical consultant, Native American activist, and Judo coach.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Cheryl Delany
- Children
- Mother of Olympic judo bronze medalist and UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
- Mother of judoka Julia DeMars.
- Holds a PhD and MA degree in educational psychology from the University of California at Riverside, an MBA from the University of Minnesota, and a BS/BA from Washington University.
- Works for the University of Southern California (USC) as a statistical consultant.
- Founded a statistics and mathematics consulting company named The Julia Group (named after her youngest daughter).
- Competing for your country is wonderful. I've done it, and it's a wonderful experience, but at some point you have to grow up and go out and get a job and support yourself.
- I'm the exact opposite, I think, of lots and lots of people in sports, that they retire from a sport and then they go into something related to that, go into sports casting or something. I retired from competition and went and got a PhD, and specialized in Applied Statistics, and started a group of technology companies. It's not like if MMA had been there, I would've gone into that as a career. Judo is something I like to do. It was fun. I had a great time. And then I went and did something else.
- [on the pressure her youngest daughter Julia DeMars faces about her big sister Ronda Rousey] One of Julia's friends was over one time and she said, "It must be really great to have a famous big sister. I wish I had a famous big sister." And Julia said to her very seriously, "Why don't you wish you were famous yourself?" I think Julia has different interests. She likes to hang out with Ronda because she's her big sister and she's cool, but she [Julia] plays soccer, she likes that, and she's a really good student. Julia, I think, has a very good sense of her own self.
- I really think one of the biggest things, in all seriousness, is learning to give up what you want now for what you want most... that lots of people would like to be a world champion, they'd like to get into NYU, they'd like a lot of things, but they're not willing to give up sitting on the couch watching Vampire Diaries for it.
- [on her greatest role model] She [her grandmother] is an example of how one person can have a continuing affect for good in life, and I will never be as good of a person as she was. She was the kind of person that gave the Bible and Catholics a good name, and there are some people who are the opposite, you know? She used to tell me all the time that God gives you talents in life and you have nothing that God wants so the only way that you can show your gratitude for that is do the best you can with everything that you are given.
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