A Wakefield athlete made national history on Thursday morning when she defeated Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain to win the gold medal in the women's half-heavyweight judo competition at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Harrison, 22, who is originally from Middleton, Ohio, currently lives in Marblehead and trains at Jimmy Pedro’s Judo Center in Wakefield, is a two-time national champion and won the world championship in 2010. 

Harrison was ranked number four in the world as she entered into this year's Olympics. She faced Abigal Joo of Hungary in the quarterfinals, and Mayra Aguiar of Brazil in the semifinals. Aguiar was ranked number one heading into the Olympics.

"It's been years and years of hard work," she said during a previous interview with MSNBC. 

You can watch a replay of Harrison's gold medal round on NBCOlympics.com. Her match starts at the 2:21:24 mark.