Antonius “Anton” Johannes Geesink (April 6, 1934 – August 27, 2010) was a Dutch 10th-dan judoka from Utrecht. He was a three-time World Judo Champion (1961, 1964 and 1965), Olympic Gold Medalist (1964) and won 21 European championships. He was 6’6″ (1.98m) tall and at one time weighed 320 pounds (145 kg). Geesink first... more »
Greco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practised worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908. Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in three two-minute periods, which can be terminated early by a... more »
Hidehiko Yoshida (born September 3, 1969) is a Japanese gold medalist in judo at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and retired MMA Heavyweight fighter. He is a long time veteran of Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships competed in the Middleweight division also managing to fight in the semi-finals in the Pride 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix.... more »
Isao Okano (born January 20, 1944) is a retired judoka who competed in the middleweight (-80 kg) division. He was born in Ryūgasaki, Ibaraki, Japan. He entered the 1964 Summer Olympics while studying at Chuo University’s law school, and won the gold medal in the middleweight division. He won another gold medal at the... more »
Jigoro Kano was the founder of judo. Judo was the first Japanese martial art to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic sport. Pedagogical innovations attributed to Kano include the use of black and white belts, and the introduction of dan ranking to show the relative ranking between members... more »
Karen Inman (born 11 April 1963) is a British judoka who won numerous World and European Championship medals in judo. She is considered one of the UK’s most successful competitive judoka. She represented the United Kingdom in the 1992 Summer Olympics, the first year Womens’ Judo was included as an Olympic sport (first as... more »
Kyuzo Mifune (April 21, 1883 – January 27, 1965) has been categorized as one of the greatest exponents of the art of Judo after the founder, Jigoro Kano. He is considered by many to be the greatest judo technician ever, after Kanō. Kyuzo Mifune became so famous in Judo circles that in referring to... more »
Neil Adrian Adams, (born in Rugby, Warwickshire on 27 September 1958) is a British judoka who won numerous Olympic and World Championship medals in Judo. Adams was the first British male ever to win a World title, and the first British male ever to simultaneously hold a world title and a European title. Other... more »
Neil Adrian Adams is a British judoka who won numerous Olympic and World Championship medals in judo. His achievements include a gold medal at the 1981 World Judo Championships in Maastricht, the Netherlands, plus silver medals in the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympic Games and the 1983 Judo World Championships. Adams was also five-time... more »
Pankration was a martial art introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and founded as a blend of boxing and wrestling but without any rules. The term comes from the Ancient Greek παγκράτιον [paŋkrátion], literally meaning “all powers” from πᾶν (pan-) “all” + κράτος (kratos) “strength, power”. Spartan soldiers were taught to... more »
Peter Seisenbacher (born March 25, 1960 in Vienna) is one of the most successful judo practitioners and participants of the Olympic Games from Austria. For his first Summer Olympics 1984 in Los Angeles, Seisenbacher exercised in Japan, where he found optimal training conditions. He won his first Olympic gold medal in the Men’s Middleweight... more »
Ryoko Tani (born September 6, 1975) is a japanese female judoka. She is one of the world’s most famous and successful judoka. She is commonly known as ‘Yawara-chan’or ‘Tawara’ (from the title character of Yawara!, a popular judo manga). Since she won the International Women’s Judo Championships in 1990, ‘Yawara-chan’ has gone on to... more »
Satoshi Ishii (born December 19, 1986) is a Japanese judoka and mixed martial artist noted for winning a gold medal in Olympic Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games and two All-Japan Judo Championships. Ishii made his professional MMA debut at Dynamite!! 2009... more »
Toshihiko Koga (born November 21, 1967) is a retired judoka who competed in the -71 kg and -78 kg divisions. Koga was born in Kitashigeyasu, Saga, Japan, and began judo in elementary school. He traveled to Tokyo during junior-high school to enter Kodogakusha, a judo school later attended by Olympic gold medalists Hidehiko Yoshida and... more »