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News
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  Monday
24th January 2005 Claudia Heill of Austria is 23 today. Although she
has yet to win a European title her Olympic silver medal in Athens at 63
kgs positions her closer to Austria's greats such as Edith Hrovat
and Gerda Winkelbauer who, between them, won 13 European titles.
Unfortunately for both, the Olympics did not include women during
their contest career. To reach the Olympic silver, Heill defeated Sarah
Clark GBR with ko-uchi-gari (on the right), Os Hong of North
Korea and Urska Zolnir SLO. Against Ayumi Tanimoto in the final she
could not avoid her Japanese opponents wazari and ippon resulting from
yoko-shiho-gatame in 1:17 minutes. Never the less, Heill has plenty of
time and spirit to pursue European gold medals over the next few years. |
  Friday
21st January 2005. Today World Champion Ann Hughes of Great
Britain is celebrating her birthday. A product of one of the greatest judo
coaches in the world, Roy Inman, she also won a World silver
(Belgrade 1989) and a bronze at Essen in the same year (1986) that she won
the gold as the IJF merged the mens and womens championships together. The
bronze medal ensured that she took part in the 1988 Seoul Olympics but she
lost the bronze to Regina Philips FRG. Her competition career
spanned more than 13 years with her last medal in 1990, a bronze at the
Commonwealth Games in Aukland. Usually fighting at 56kgs, on the left she
is waiting to be presented to the Queen in 1992 at Buckingham Palace and
on the right she is between Heather Ford and Loretta Doyle
at the 1981 British Open. |
  20th
January 2005 The all time judo legend, Isao
Okano (on the left teaching at the Budokwai), is 61 today.
Middleweight Olympic champion in 1964 and World Champion in 1965, he took
over the Japanese team after their poor 1972 Olympic performance where
they won three out of the six golds. Twelve months later he led them to
six golds at the Laussane Worlds (on
the right he is leading the 1973 team). The following year the
Japanese Association considered he had offended judo and sacked him as
manager for being on the front cover of the French magazine with Anton
Geesink promoting the wearing of red and blue judogi in competitions
fifteen years before it happened. The following year, managed by Nobuyuki
Sato, they won only four of the medals at the Vienna
Worlds! |
  19th
January 2005. Natascha van Gurp of Holland celebrates her 22nd
birthday today while preparing for the new European tournament season. At
22 she has taken part in fifty five national and international tournaments
since the age of 13. Her best position has been a 52 kgs silver medal at
the 2002 Rotterdam European Junior Championships. In the senior Europeans
she has progressed from 7th at Dusseldorf in 2003 to 5th at Bucharest in
2004. At this rate she is in line for a medal at the 2005 Europeans. She
is a strikingly pretty girl with long blond hair who intends to make her
mark on Dutch and European judo and there could not be a better
opportunity than at the May Europeans to be held at Rotterdam. |
  16th
January 2005. Athens Olympic bronze medallist, World silver medallist
and three times European champion, Ariel Zeevi is 28 today.
Certainly the best judoka produced by Israel, a country not renowned for
its sporting achievement, and only the fifth Israeli in fifty years to
wear an Olympic medal. Zeevi is always determined and with an
uncompromising style intended to score an ippon every time. Here on the
right Zeevi is throwing Iveri Jikurauli with the Georgian's own
speciality uranage to claim the gold medal at the 2004 Paris
Tournament. Later at the Bucharest Europeans he destroyed
Jikurauli again with a low Kures style kata-guruma you'd expect to see
from the Georgian. |
Sports
: Cuban Male Judokas in First Competition in 2005
CubaXP - Cuba
Cuban male judokas will this month participate in their first competition
this year: the National Judo Championship in eastern Las Tunas
province. ... |
  14th
January 2005. Henry Hubert of Germany is 27 today. Now fighting at
heayweight he had recent success at the October Luebeck German
Championships where he won gold. His last tournament as a light
heavyweight was at the British Open in 2003 (left) where he beat Franz
Birkfellner of Austria for the gold (right). With Frank Moeller
retired from competion, Hubert will be competing with the young but
heavier Andreas Toelzer for the top slot in German judo. Toelzer
reached fifth at last weekend's openweight Kano Cup in Tokyo, losing the
semi-final to Yuri Ryback BLR. Hubert has yet to take part in a
European championships. Will this be the year? |
  11th
January 2005
Today Adrian Kulisch of Germany celebrates his
24th birthday. Fighting at 66 kgs he is beginning to make a consistent
mark on German judo. Recently he won the German Championships at Luebeck
in October and the German Open Braunschweig in July. His record at
European and A Tournament level is not so good finishing 13th at the 2004
Bucharest Europeans and 17th at both the Rotterdam and Prague Tournaments
in the same year. As a junior at 60 kgs, he consistently medalled.
Here he is shown at the Hamburg Otto World Cup last year attacking Yehouatan Arami ISR
on the left with his response to the victory on the right. |
  NEWS
9th January 2005. INOUE IS BACK! Today,
Sunday, Kosei Inoue JPN is at last back on top, with a gold at the prestigious
Kano Cup, Tokyo, following his disastrous Olympic performance where, as
the most fancied champion, he sank out of sight to unfancied Europeans.
Unable to recover from his near six month low it took his
widowed father, Akira, to help him bounce back from the depression that
made him avoid competition, the possibility of more defeats and
embarrassment. Now, getting back to form and undefeated in the Worlds since 1999
he must surely be at the Cairo Worlds in September to defend his
title. But will he start the European circuit in Moscow on the 22nd or
wait for Paris two weeks later? |
 9th
January 2005 OSAKA - NO RETIREMENT FOR TANI At the age of 29, Olympic champion judoka
Ryoko Tani JPN said Thursday she will continue her competitive career at least until the 2008 Beijing Olympics and her primary goal for this year is to win an unprecedented seventh straight world title.
"What I should do this year is to break my own record," Tani said during national team training being held in Osaka Prefecture, referring to the
unprecedented six consecutive titles she has won at 48 kilogram in the world championships.
Source: Kyodo News |
  7th
January 2005 Today is the 27th birthday of 2001 World champion Anis
Lounifi TUN. Lounifi was the first North African to take a gold
medal at the Worlds when he defeated Cedric Taymans BEL in the
final, right. Before the 2003 Osaka Worlds he maintained the standard
winning the African 66 kgs title a year later. At Osaka he went down to 60
kgs again winning a bronze medal, but losing to Min Ho Choi of
Korea who was unstoppable on the day. Athens was a disappointment, going
out in the second round, but with this years Worlds scheduled for Cairo in
September others will be worrying as to which weight he will fight in. |
  5th
January 2005 Today is Olympic champion Maki Tsuda's
23rd birthday. On the right she is shown at the 2004 Tournoi de Paris with
a bronze medal and exceedingly miserable while on the left she radiates
happiness with her Olympic gold medal. Still on top of the world she won
the December Japanese Fukuoka Tournament for the first time, improving on
her previous silver and two bronze medals. Her speciality is groundwork
were she makes use of her considerable weight to hold her opponent. In
Athens she won all her contests by ippon from holds except in one instance
where the ippon resulted from a kosoto-gake (mino outer hook) throw. |
  3rd
January 2005. Angelo Parisi is 52 years old today. Originally
Italian, then British when his parents moved to Battersea, London and set
up an ice cream company. Later he married in France and took French
nationality. He still holds the record for the greatest number of Olympic
medals with 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze from 1972 to 1984 missing
Montreal in '76. His first medal was at Munich as a baby faced, but very
strong London Budokwai member. A gold and silver followed at Moscow and
another silver in Los Angeles where he lost to Hitoshi Saito JPN. A
most natural judoman whose greatest competitive strength was his uncanny
ability to throw left and right as if each side was his most natural. |
|
  Sunday
2nd January 2005 Today double Olympic champion, Hitoshi
Saito JPN is 44 years old. His two gold medals were won in the under
95 kgs division at Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988. His greatest
rival came from his own country, Yasuhiro Yamashita, who was four
years older and won the Open title in 1984. At Seoul the Open category was
removed, but by then Yamashita had retired from competition giving Saito
clear room to defend his title. Shinji Hosokawa's birthday
also falls on the same day but he is one year older. Almost as invincible
in his time he won Olympic gold at Los Angeles and silver at Seoul. |
   News
1st January 2005 Sydney Olympic champion Kosie
Inoue of Japan, shown on the far left with his 2000 gold medal
dedicated to his deceased mother, rated amongst the top ten Japanese
news stories of 2004 for his appallingly bad Athens performance. Above he
is being grilled by the press after his failure. SEE
STORY. 1980's European Superstar Brian Jacks appeared to
be back in the headlines when his name was listed on one of the Asian
tsunami web sites yesterday. The Mail on Sunday followed the story up but
happily found that he was safely staying in Thailand at the time, but
luckily not at his house at the devastated Phuket Beach. |
 BIRTHDAY
& NEWS 30th December 2004
Jozef
Krnac (SLV) was one of the European sensations of the Athens
Olympic Games. The Slovakian celebrates his birthday today and can look
back to a great 2004. In the Olympic final U66 he lost to Japanese Masato
Uchishiba. In his semi final he surprised Cuban Yordanis Arencibia who had
shown great skills that day. Krnac totally devastated the Cuban favourite.
Krnac
this year also won the A-tournament of Prague started his international
career with a world junior title in Porto 1996. It took 8 years to be back
on world level, but than on a bigger stage; the Olympic Games.
NEWS:
The funeral of Errol Carnegie takes place today at Forest Gate, London,
E7. His obituary can be read at http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/home/errolcarnegie.php |
|
JUDO STORY: Schoolgirl
uses judo skills to throw perverted postman
More stories........ |
|
  NEWS
24th December 2004 Journalists in Minsk, Belarus named Ihar Makarov,
the under 100 kgs gold medallist at Athens, their Male Sports Personality
of the year. Prior to Athens, his greatest success had been a bronze medal
at the 2003 Osaka Worlds, but Athens brought him out of his shell and he
beat the man, Elco Van der Geest NED, who comfortably beat the
favourite, Kosie Inoue JPN, squeezing past him by a yuko (5
points). In the final he met Sung Ho Jang KOR and tumbled him for a
wazari to win. On the right, with Makarov, are Jang (silver), Jurack
GER and Zeevi ISR (bronzes) |
|
 NEWS
23rd December 2004 Sophie Cox of Great Britain is 23 today. She is a
determined woman who not only knows how to fight, reaching second in the
European Judo Championships last May at Bucharest, but occasionally plays
rugby enjoying the melee of the scrum and tackle. At the Athens
Olympics she reached the quarter-final in the 57 kgs division but lost to
the current World Champion Sun Hui Kye of North Korea who was also the
surprise Olympic champion in 1996. Unfortunately relegated to the
repercharge she was unable to pick herself up after the defeat and went
out in the second round finishing 9th. Since then she has been very busy
winning titles in Scotland, Britain, Wales and Finland. Based at the
Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, along with other elite fighters, she
is training hard for the Europeans at Rotterdam in May and the Cairo
Worlds in September. And at 23 she is not there just for the ride!
|
|
 NEWS
21st December 2004 Germany came fith at the 17th World Student Judo held at Moscow
with a total haul of 1 gold and 4 silver medals. Gerhard Dempf (left
at Osaka) won the 90 kgs gold beating Haibulaev of Russian in the
final. The silvers went to Ole Bischof (81kgs), Claudia Malzahn
(63kgs), Jenny Karl (78 kgs) and Katrin Beinroth (o78kgs).
Olympic champion Zurab Zviadauri GEO was scheduled to appear at
Dempf's weight but did not materialise giving a lucky and brief victory to
James Austin GBR. The once unbeatable Munich double world champion,
Alexandre Mikhaylin of Russia, returned to the gold standard at the
over 100 kgs beating Abdullo Tangriev of Uzbekistan who later won
the open divison. FULL RESULTS Men: Open,
o100 kgs, 100
kgs, 90 kgs, 81
kgs, 73 kgs, 66
kgs, 60 kgs.
Women: Open,
o78 kgs, 78
kgs, 70 kgs, 63
kgs, 57 kgs, 52
kgs, 48 kgs. |
|
NEWS 20th December 2004 - Japan
captured the most gold medals at the 17th World Student Judo
Championships held at Moscow on Sunday. They lead the race with five
golds and one silver from the men's and women's events. France were
runners up with three gold, two silver and three bronze medals - a
significant improvement at world level over their solitary Athens silver
medal from Frederique Jossinet (right). Russia were third with two golds,
one silver and three bronzes. Forty-one countries took part with a total
of 250 players. |
|
 NEWS
19th December 2004 World champion Arash Miresmaeili of Iran
(left at Osaka) failed to get past the first round of the 66 kgs category
of the 17th World Student Judo Championships in Moscow yesterday. He was
defeated by his South Korean opponent who was then knocked out of the
tournament in his next contest, denying Miresmaeili the chance of a medal
in the repercharge. Miresmaeili 23, who was fifth in Sydney,
controversially refused to fight at Athens when he was drawn against E
Vaks of Israel. At the time, a reliable source in the IJF said that there
were concerns that the reasons were possibly more complicated. At the
February Paris Tournament training camp he seemed to be caught for doping
irregularities. Subsequently he failed to appear at the summer training
camps although his colleagues did. Go
to World Judo Stories for further information
|
|
  NEWS
18th December 2004
The
Chinese State Judo Administration are looking for coaches from Korea and
Japan to prepare their team for the Beijing Olympics. At Athens the
Chinese were second to the Japanese in the medal table but a long way
behind their tally of 8 gold medals and 2 silvers, with one gold from 52
kgs Dongmei Xian shown here, one silver and 3 bronze. The Chinese
obviously feel they can do better in time for the Beijing Olympics. Access
to the full article is via the WORLD JUDO
STORIES PAGE |
|
17th
December 2004 Bundesliga
and European Club Cup discussion on JudoInfo site with this link |
|
  Olympic
heavyweight champion Keiji Suzuki (left in Athens) has undergone on
operation on his elbow to remove bone chips. He will be training again in
February but, according to Hitoshi Saito, not expected to be back on the competition circuit until
April. Pick
up the story at JudoInside with this link. Hitoshi
Saito is shown here with his o95 kgs Los Angeles Olympic gold medal. |
|
16th
December 2004 NEW IJF JUDOGI RULES
ANNOUNCED BY YASUHIRO YAMASHITA |
|
16th December 2004 Obituary
- Errol Carnegie (1953 - 2004) |
|
|
|
 TIME
LINE 14th December. Kate
Howey (left) lost her final of the 1997 Fukuoka Tournament in Japan. Chinese
Dongya Qin is too strong for world champion Howey. In 1986 same day, same
place, Karen Briggs won the lightweights with Fumiko Ezaki finishing
second. Just like Ann Hughes who lost the U56kg final to Polish Maria
Gontowicz-Szalas. At
the World University Championships in Malaga, the result of the heavy
weight classes are more than interesting. U100 Dutch Danny Meeuwsen loses
to former Olympioc Champion (1992) Antal Kovacs. Keiji Suzuki, Athens
Olympic champion finishes third, together with Igor Makarov, Athens
Olympic Champion U100kg.
In
the heavyweights, Yasuyuki Muneta (right) defeats Aleksandr Mikhailine in the
final. Dennis van der Geest (NED) ends as third, not an easy study this
lesson in Malaga.
|
|
TIME
LINE 13 December Sharon Rendle won the Fukuoka tournament of
1987 beating world champion of 1984, Kaori Yamaguchi in the 52 kgs
category. In
1998 the British Trials are held in Cardiff. John Buchanan  is
too strong for Jamie Johnson. Eric Bonti (right) surprisingly
beat Jean-Paul Bell and Ryan Birch beat Winston Gordon
to briefly sum up some interesting finals. In
the
women’s categories Nicola Fairbrother beat Debbie Allan, Kate
Howey defeated Rachel Wilding while Chloe Cowen beat Michelle
Rogers. In 1980 the Trials are held in London, where Densign
White (left) beat Dave Walker. Mark Chittenden finally
beat Nick Kokotaylo for the last time. After that Kokotaylo won 9
titles. In 2003 in Stoke on Trent, James Warren beat David
Somerville for the British Trials. Five years after his first national
title, Budokwai member and Fighting Films odd-job man Eric Bonti
(right) gets another one, beating Matthew Purssey. Simone Callender wins
her sixth title beating Kerri Manfredi.
|
|
 TIME
LINE 12th December. At the European Championships of 1975 in Munich,
Christine Child GBR (picture on 1st December) is successful
at over 72 kgs. She beats Margherita De Cal (ITA), Margaret McKenna
came third. At the European Championships of 1976, Jane Bridge won
the lightweight title beating Italian Emilia Davico. Ellen Cobb GBR
loses her final to Chistiane Kieburg from West Germany.
Lee
McGrorty is one of the winners of the 1999 Scottish Open. Steven
Vidler (U90) and James Millar (U60) are other big Scottish
names. Fiona Robertson beats sister Donna this time at
U52kg, a running gag those two. 
At
the 1979 world championships in Paris, Russia, France and Japan rule. The
world champions are Thierry Rey, Nikolai Solodukhin, Kyoto Katsuki,
Shojo Fujii, German Detlef Ultsch, Tengiz Khubuluri and Yasuhiro
Yamashita. Sumio Endo (left and right above) wins the open
class. Shojo
Fujii (Jpn) wins his fourth world title in a row and the first of four
world titles goes to the greatest modern day judo man, Yasuhiro
Yamashita (right with David Finch at the London Budokwai). |
|
TIME
LINE 11th December. Josephine Horton lost her final of the
Fukuoka tournament in 1994 to Dutch   Angelique
Seriese (left). Nicola Fairbrother took bronze at U56kg.
In 1988 Karen Briggs (right) was more successful, she won
the U48 beating Kerstin Emich from West Germany. Sharon
Rendle beat Noriko Mizoguchi U52kg.
The
British team finished third at the Europeans in 1954. Their time will
come. Dicky Bowen, Grabert, MacDermotte, Whyman and Douglas
Young are Britain’s team of five.
|
|
TIME
LINE 10th December. Today in 2000 two brothers won the European junior
title in Cyprus. Thomas  Cousins
beat Antoni Chmielewski in his U81 final, Peter won the U90kg beating
Dutch Thierry Mastenbroek. Under 73kg it’s the other way around, Matthew
Purssey lost to Dutch Guillaume Elmont. Elmont is shown on the
left
and to the right in white perfoming an unusual throw at the Hamburg Otto
World Sophie
Cox was the only British woman to win a medal in Nicosia. Cox reached
third U57kg.
At
the Fukuoka tournament of 1989 Sharon Rendle won the U52 weight class
beating Chinese Chen Yingu. Noriko Narazaki (JPN) and Jessica Gal (NED)
finish third. Sharon Lee lost her final in the open class to Zhuang
Xiaoyan (CHN). In
1988 Diane Bell finished third U61, Jane Morris was also third U66kg |
|
TIME
LINE 9 December. The
British team is successful at the Fukuoka tournament of 1985. Under 48kg double
world champion Karen Briggs beat Marie-France Collignon. The
same day but in 1990, Briggs finished third in Fukuoka. Back
to 1985, double European champion Ann Hughes (left outside
Buckingham Palace) beat Austrian Gerda Winklbauer. One year
later Hughes won the world title under 56kg. Diane Bell finished third at
under 61 kg after Gabi Ritschel (GER) (right at the 1987 Paris
Europeans) and Céline Géraud, currently TV presenter and judo
commentator for France 2.  Joyce
Malley became University World Champion of 1984 in Strasbourg (FRA).
At the British Trials of 1984, Stephen Gawthorpe won his last of
three titles at U65kg. At under 71 kg Mark Earle won his only
British title, he is more successful as coach to some of Britain’s top
judoka. 1981
 world
champion Neil Adams (left at the High Wycombe Judo club) won
his fourth of ‘just’ five national titles. Diane
Bell won her last title U56 kilograms. After 1984 she moved to the U61
and became world champion twice, added another European title to the two
before and won national titles number seven and eight. She retires after
the European Championships of 1996 and now coaches the British women’s
team |
|
 NEWS
Sydney Olympic 81 kgs judo gold medallist Makoto Takimoto (left)
of Japan
has been lined up to take part in a professional multi-martial arts
fighting program known as PRIDE
FIGHTING'S SHOCKWAVE.
Takimoto has joined other former Olympic champions,
including 1992 judo gold medallist at 78 kgs, Hidehiko Yoshida
(right), in seeking to make money from videos or 'pay-per-view'
television fighting perfomances. Takimoto's opponent has yet to be named. |
|
TIME LINE 8th
December. Today in 1990 the British Trials were held in  London.
Billy Cusack, Kerrith Brown and Nick Kokotaylo add more
titles to their impressive list. In the women’s
categories, Elise Summers and Josephine Horton are well
known winners, but these trials of 1990 are filled with unpredictable
incidents.
At
the Fukuoka Tournament in Japan, in the same year, Ryoko Tamura
beat Kayo Kitada in the U48 final. Kie
Kusakabe beat Noriko Mogi U57kg. Noriko
Anno (right) is superior at U78kg. Maki Tsukada (left)
is defeated by Chinese Xueying Jia.
|
|
 TIME
LINE 7th December. At the British Championships of 1996 in BathJoyce
Heron surprises with a nice comeback U48kg defeating Fiona
Robertson who had won the past two championships.
At
the British Trials of 1997 Simone Callender beat Karina Bryant.
In 1985 Kerrith Brown won his 8th of 10 national titles
at U71kg. Densign White won the U86gs beating Lloyd Alexander. Dennis
Stewart beat Nick Kokotaylo.
Later he went on to win the only British men's medal at the 1988 Seoul
Olympics, a bronze at under 95 kgs. Stewart is shown in these three 
pictures.
In
1951 the British Team is defeated by France in the European team
championships in Paris. In 1957, 1958 and 1959 the British take revenge
and win the European title three time in a row. At
the individual championships in 1951, Geoff Gleeson finished
second. Gleeson was beaten by Jean De Herdt (FRA).
Debbie
Allan won the US Open U52kg in 1994, Kirstie Weir won U61kg
beating Michelle Buckingham. Karen Powell finished third. .
|
|
 TIME
LINE Dember 6th. Today in 1992 Nigel Donohue won
 his only British
title. In 1995, however, he
won his only European title. Billy Cusack was another famous winner
of the British title that day. Nicola Fairbrother won her first
British title in 1992, beating Nathalie Evans.
In
Lisbon, the Portugese Championships of 1998 are held. Well known winners
are Pedro Caravana, Nuno Delgado (bottom left) and Pedro Soares.
At
the Swiss Open of 1986, Neil Eckersley (U60) won the title
defeating the German, Helmut Dietz. Carl Finney (top
 left)
finished
third and Paul Shields won the U78kgs.
In
London 2003 the European team championships are held. Georgia won by
beating Spain in the final. Georgia appears with strong names like Nestor
Khergiani (top right), Margoshvili, Revazishvili, Davit Nadaraia, Zviadauri,
Jikurauli and Davitashvili. Zurab Zviadauri (bottom
left) later
spectacularly won the 90 kgs class at Athens
|
Kaori Yamaguchi JPN
Diane Bell GBR |
TIME
LINE 5th December. At the 1982 world championships in Paris, Karen
Briggs GBR won the title U48 kgs beating Marie-France Collignon, of where
else but France. Loretta Doyle GBR won U52 kgs beating Kaori Yamaguchi
from Japan. At u56 kgs Diane Bell GBR finishes third, Béatrice
Rodríguez from France won this weight class.
David
Starbrook
won the British Open of 1970 in London. Not only did he win the u80 kgs he
was superior in the open weight class too. Later he won a silver medal at
the 1972 Munich Olympics. Roy
Inman won the U93kgs. After retiring from competition Inman became one
of the world’s best coaches but halfway through his coaching career fell
out with the British Judo Association to the Association’s ever lasting
detriment.
|
David Starbrook GBR
Roy Inman GBR |
Geoff Gleeson GBR
Charles Palmer GBR |
TIME
LINE 4th December.
At the British
Trials of 1993 Danny Kingston beat Ian Freeman U71kg. Billy
Cusack won his sixth and last title. Cusack, as coach, helped Graeme
Randall take the -81kg World
title in Birmingham in 1999. He represented Britain at -71kg at the 1992
Barcelona Games. He is married to Loretta Doyle, world champion of
1982.
At
the British Trials in London in 1993 Debbie Allan beat double world
champion and Olympic (test) champion Sharon Rendle, winning her
first British title.
The
British men’s team was second at the European team Championships of 1955
in Paris. France was too strong for the team of Geof Gleeson, Tony
Mack, Charles Palmer, Warwick Stepto (Stevens) and Douglas
Young.
At
the Tournament of Fukuoka in Japan Karen Briggs won the women’s
title U48kg today in 1983. Loretta Doyle won the gold U52.
|
Karen Briggs GBR
Sharon Rendle GBR |
Fairbrother & Blasco
Anton Geesink NED |
TIME
LINE 3rd December. Julian Davis wins his first ever
A-tournament in 1995. In Basel he beats Finnish Pasi Lauren in the
final of the Swiss Open. Does he marry Cheryle Peel as a reward for
that? Nicola Fairbrother wins the Swiss open U56kg and doesn’t
compete at the British
Trials.
At those British Trials of 1995 in Bangor Castle, Nick
wins his last of 9 national titles that he starts in 1982. Debbie Allan
beat Georgina Singleton in the final U52kg. Cheryle Peel
beat Rosemary Felton, Peel and Davis win that day. In 2000 James
Warren finally wins his first British title beating Danny Luxford.
Donna Robertson beat sister Fiona. Sarah Clark beat Karen
Roberts in Wolverhampton. At the British Trials in
Edinburgh in 1994 Debbie Allan beat double world champion and
Olympic (test) champion Sharon Rendle for the second time in a
row.
György Kosztolánczy won the Hungarian U17 title. Kosztolánczy
will become National senior champion three times.
At the world championships in Paris of 1961 Anton Geesink (NED)
won his first world title. The tall Dutchman beat Koji Sone in the
final
|
Nick Kokataylo GBR
Sharon Rendle GBR scores ippon in Tokyo 1995
|
Graeme Randall GBR
Peter Cousins GBR |
TIME
LINE 3rd December. At the British Trials of 2001, Graeme
Randall is still champion U81. Peter Cousins beats Winston
Gordon U90. Fiona Robertson beats Donna this time. Sophie
Cox beats Cheryle Peel U57 kg.
In 1999 world
champion Graeme Randall wins bronze at the Olympic test event in
Sydney but at the real Games, Randall is beaten at an early stage.
The first European Championships are held today in 1934 in Dresden (GER).
All podium places are completely German but one, under 63 kg Alois
Cigner from Czechoslovakia wins bronze.
At the British Trials of 1984, classical names are the proud winners: John
Swatman, Stephen Gawthorpe, Kerrith Brown, Neil
Adams, Wyndham Williams, Nick Kokotaylo and Paul Radburn.
At the Hungarian U17 championships of 1995, Miklos Ungvári won the
title U45 kilogram. Ungvári will become European senior champion in 2002.
He’s one of the two Hungarian participants at the Athens Olympic Games.
The other is good-old Antal Kovacs, Olympic and World champion
before the age of 22 in 1993 but never again.
|
Sophie Cox GBR
Antal Kovacs HUN |
Edith Hrovat AUT
Florian
Wanner GER |
TIME
LINE 1 December 2004 In 1973 in Austria Edith Hrovat wins
her 1st of 16 national titles. Her last was in 1988.
Unbelievable but true, all in the same weight, under 52 kgs.
British
heavyweight Christine Child becomes the unofficial European
champion at the ‘test’ European Championships in Genoa, one year
later, she wins it officially to confirm her status. Lynn Tilley
also gets first in 1974
At
the British Championship in 2002, David Somerville beat James
Warren in the U66 final. Donna Robertson is too strong for
sister Fiona. Kate Howey beat Amanda Costello, while Karina
Bryant beat Simone Callender.
The
Chinese Open of 2002 is dominated by Chinese judoka’s. Only German Florian
Wanner is a European exception. One year later, Wanner is the new
world champion U81kg.
Romanian
Adrian Croitoru wins his last Romanian Championship today in 2001.
Romania’s best ever judoka was a European Champion in 2000
|
Christine Child GBR
David
Somerville GBR |
Jane Bridge GBR
Bridgette McCarthy GBR |
TIME
LINE 30 November.
Today in 1980 Jane Bridge became the first female
lightweight world champion. Bridge beat Anna de Novellis (ITA). Bridgette
McCarthy reaches third (U52)
as well as Loretta Doyle (U56).
Koji
Sone JPN wins the world title in 1958 in Tokyo. Sone defeats Akio
Kaminaga JPN. 
At
the French Championships of 1997 Frédérique Jossinet beats Sarah
Nichilo. Both
women share two European titles but never win the world title. Nichilo
becomes third in 1999 in Birmingham, Jossinet second in 2003 at Osaka and
second at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Both times losing to Ryoko
Tani (nee Tamura)
rignt.
|
Loretta Cusack (nee Doyle) GBR
Frederique Jossinet FRA
|
Dawn Netherwood GBR
Avril Malley GBR |
TIME
LINE 30th November. Today in 1980 at the first women’s world
championships in New York, the Briton Dawn Netherwood is close to
her first victory. But Austrian Edith Simon won the U66 kgs title,
permanently relegating Netherwood to never be more than the bridesmaid at
all her major international tournaments . Avril Malley reached
third at U72kgs, Jocelyne Triadou FRA wins this first honour.
In November 2001 Tamerlan
Tmenov is first at the Russian championships but through injury was
unable to participate in the earlier Worlds. Too bad for him his rival Alexandr
Mikhailine became double world champion in Munich in July. In both the
open and plus category Mikhailine is by far the strongest. Mikhailine
isn’t too keen in joining the Russian Championships though in November.
At
the world masters of 2002 in Bucharest the British fighters don’t win
gold as well as serious money. Only Georgina Singleton can get some
money out of Marius Vizer’s pocket. She loses the final to Raffaelle
Imbriani. The German women know how to deal with prize money
tournaments. They win three of seven weight categories, German efficiency!
Isabel Fernández and Sara Alvarez win gold for Spain and
confirm their status as best female fighters
|
Tamerlan Tmenov RUS
Raffaelle Imbriani GER |
Mark
Huizinga NED
Huizinga at Atlanta |
TIME
LINE 28th November. At the World military championships of 1997 it’s
a Dutch party in the men’s category. The Dutch win two categories. U95 Ben
Sonnemans defeats Austrian Thomas Etlinger, two years before
becoming European champion. At under 86 kgs Mark Huizinga wins the
first of six military world titles, three years before decisively winning
the Olympic title at under 90 kgs!
Oddly
enough Huizinga has never been successful in regular world championships.
In five
world participations Huizinga fought 10 matches, and lost six. Never the
less Huizinga has three Olympic medals on his career summary.
|
Sonnemans
in Bundesliga
Ben Sonnemans NED |
|
November 27th 2004 A brief note of
regret following the death of Rick Perrie on the 21st November. A judo fan
I never knew but wish I had. David Finch |
Werbrouck
at Atlanta
Dedecker & Werbrouck winning gold
Monique Van der Lee NED |
TIME
LINE 27th November At the Vienna European junior championships in 1988
Ulla Werbrouck won her weight class at under 72 kilograms. The
16-year old Belgian talent defeated Dutch Monique van der Lee. Ulla
Werbrouck later became Olympic Champion at Atlanta in 1996 and won the
European senior title seven times, but the world title never appears on
her impressive fact file - just two silver medals. Her opponent in that
match in Vienna is very talented as well, and does win the world title. In
1995 in Tokyo she became world champion at the
age of 21. Van der Lee, however, retires from judo one year later because
she’s been sexually abused by her trainer Peter Ooms, the biggest
judo scandal in Dutch history.
Werbrouck’s
coach Jean-Marie Dedecker describes the tension
and relationship of him and Werbrouck later in his biography “Me,
Jean Marie Dedecker”. The couple succeeded because Werbrouck married
a Belgian professional soccer player. He helped her find the psychological
balance.
Read
Werbrouck's story as it appears in USA Journal of Asian Martial Arts
Go to bottom of page for thumbnail and click the file name for readable
version.
|
Dedecker & Werbrouck at her retirement
Ulla Werbrouck BEL
Werbrouck
wins gold at Atlanta
|
|
NEWS 25th November 2004 TOKYO: A
sore ankle will force Japan's multiple Olympic and world champion Ryoko
Tani out of the prestigious women's judo championships in her home town of
Fukuoka next month, organisers said yesterday. The six-time world
48kg bantamweight champion, 29, who retained her Olympic crown in Athens
in August, has yet to recover fully from an injury to her left ankle
suffered before the Olympics, they said.
With Olympic 63kg light middleweight gold medalist Ayumi Tanimoto also
sidelined by injury, Japan's campaign at the Dec 11-12 tournament will be
spearheaded by Maki Tsukada, the Olympic over-78kg heavyweight champion.
Masae Ueno, who won the 70kg middleweight gold in Athens, will also take
part in the Fukuoka Cup, one of the world's top women's judo contests.
Frederique Jossinet of France, who lost to Tani in the Athens final, and
North Korea's Kye Sun Hui, the Olympic 57kg lightweight silver medallist,
will be among foreign standouts in Fukuoka.
Kye beat Tani in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic 48kg final.
Judo powerhouse Cuba will be absent from Fukuoka as the event clashes with
a domestic contest, the organisers said. – AFP |
Danny Kingston GBR
Karen
Roberts GBR |
TIME
LINE 26th November. At the European junior championships in Jerusalem Ian
Freeman won the gold in 1992. At under 65 kgs he beat Israeli Bronislaw
Malinski. Jamie Johnson won bronze U60, just like Danny
Kingston U71. In
the women’s category Karen Roberts gets third. Philipa Gemmill
wins the best medal, she loses the U48 final to Russian Chirinova. Cheryle
Peel copies that performance under 52 kgs. Ewa-Larysa Krause (POL)
is too smart for her.
More
junior medals took place today in 1989 in Athens. Kate Howey won
gold under 66 kgs defeating Beatrice Micouin (FRA). Michele
MacQuarrie won silver, just like Nigel Donohue (U60). Daniel
Sargent won bronze U95. In
the plus 95 David Khakhaleishvili won the gold, young David
Douillet came third, his first international mark. Four world titles
and two Olympic medals follow.
There
were interesting champions today in 2001 at the world military
championships. People like Mark Huizinga (NED), Mário Sabino (BRA)
and Alexandr Mikhailine (RUS) win the men’s titles. Italians
women Scapin and Morico win for Italy, Dongouzashvili
for Russia
|
Dongouzashvili
RUS
Ylena
Scapin ITA |
Severine
Vandenhende FRA
Neil
Adams GBR |
TIME
LINE 25th November. Neil Adams reaches third at the 1978
Jigoro Kano Cup in Tokyo. Kazuro Yoshimura is the best in the U71
category. Many
national championships are held in today’s history. In 2000 Portuguese Joao
Pina wins his first of multiple championships. In the women’s U52 Paula
Saldanha is successful for the 8th time (of nine). She
started this series in 1992, the year in which she competes as 20 year old
at the Olympics and reaches 7th. This is her best achievement,
despite a European Championship final in 1999.
In
the 1995 Hungarian Championships, Botond Tolgyesi beats his younger
brother Krisztián u78 kilogram. In 1998
Krisztián wins U81 kilogram of Botond. Later Botond decides to move up a weight category.
At the European
junior championships in Jerusalem in 1992, Dutch Deborah Gravenstijn
won the under 61 kgs title. She took the gold beating the Sydney Olympic
Champion Séverine Vandenhende FRA. Gravenstijn however will later
change to the U52 for the Sydney Games and another bronze medal. In Athens
in 2004, Gravenstijn won a further bronze, again at another weight when
she lost the U57 semi-final
to Olympic Champion Yvonne Bönisch GER. Gravenstijn has said she
will try for the elusive gold at Beijing in 2008, but she isn't sure if it
will be at under 48 or under 70 kgs!
|
Deborah
Gravenstijn NED
Joao
Pina POR |
Kayo Kitada JPN
Yuki Yokosawa JPN |
TIME
LINE 24th November. David Somerville beat John Buchanan
U65kg in the Scottish Open in Glasgow of 1996.
At
the women’s Grand Prix in 2001 in Spanish Seville, the Japanese women
are strong. They win U48 Kayo Kitada, U57 with Yuki Yokosawa and
the heavyweight with Mizuho Matsuzaki. The Spaniards win a lot of
medals in their home country. But the concept of the commercial grand prix
is still too poor to be a successful tournament. Kate Howey GBR
wins the U70 category beating Cecilia Blanco ESP.
Tadahiro
Nomura wins the Kano Cup in Tokyo in 1996 after his first of three
Olympic titles at 60 kgs at the earlier Atlanta Games. Vincenzo
Carabetta is the only European winner (U86).
|
Cecilia Blanco ESP
Tadahiro Nomura JPN |
|
Brian Jacks
Brian Jacks and his daily intake of vitamins |
TIME LINE 23rd
November. Brian Jacks is third at the Kano Cup in Tokyo in
1978. In the u86 weight class he must admit that Isamu Sonoda is
stronger. For Brian Jacks it’s time to say goodbye to the
international judo world. He’s won medals since 1964 at international
level starting with a junior European title in Berlin. He won the British
Open six times and became European senior champion in 1970 and 1973 and
Olympic bronze medallist in 1972. After retiring from competitive judo he
took up a career in
 show
business and became a TV personality and commentator winning two European
Super Star championships in 1979 and 1980 impressing all with his
incredible arm-dips world record of 100 in a minute.
Brian is a keen
golf player and regularly takes time off from his party organising
business to take part in ProAm matches. In 1994 Brian Jacks featured at
100th position in the Business Age Sports 100 of top ranked sports
personalities with earnings of Ł100,000 each year and gross wealth
of Ł900,000 for 1993.
In
1978 Yasuhiro Yamashita wins the Kano Cup in Tokyo beating
heavyweight Haruki Uemura who was world and Olympic Champion as
well. But this was in the period that Yamashita remained undefeated for
203 matches in a row.
|
Yamashita and his wife Michida
Yamashita strangling Reszko |
|
Monday 22nd November
2004 - Twice world champion and seven times European champion, Gella
Vandecavaye of Belgium, who broke her neck on October 1998, has just won
her 14th Belgium Championships at the age of 31. She retired in January
2004 but then came back for Athens and now the Belgium championships. She
obviously doesn't like inactivity. Some woman! |
122kgs
Fenglan Gao CHN
71kgs
Ingrid Berghmans BEL
|
