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2008 Olympic gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii to seek spot on Japan’s 2020 Olympic wrestling team

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2008 Olympic gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii (+100kg)

Fresh off of his April 16th, MMA victory over Heath Herring at Rizin in Yokohama, Japan, former Olympic judo gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii has announced (source: Nikkan Sports News) that he has set his sights on making Japan’s Olympic wrestling team for the 2020 Olympics. A day after his victory at Rizin, Ishii stated to the press, “I can no longer try for a spot on Japan’s judo team, so I will try my hand at wrestling. Actually, I entered an amateur tournament last year.” The tournament he was referring to was an amateur tournament in Holland, where he trains his striking for MMA. However, he was the only entrant in his category and therefore has yet to have a single match in amateur wrestling.

“I chose wrestling because it is good all-around practice, and at the moment, there are no major contenders at heavyweight in Asia. When I return to Holland, I want to compete in a wrestling tournament as well as challenge myself in amateur boxing and other competitions”, said the former Olympic champion (rough translation – source).   This is not the first time he has announced plans to make a repeat appearance at the Olympics. Several years ago, USA Judo announced on their webpage that Ishii was seeking US citizenship in order to compete for the US in judo at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Of course, that never materialized.

Though the often-criticized Ishii has obviously fallen out of favor with the All-Japan Judo Federation and the Japanese press, I’d like to personally say that I wish him all the best in his quest to make it to the 2020 Olympics. Yes, he made some PR blunders that put him at odds with many in the judo world, but he was after all, only 21 when he won his Olympic title. That said, I am going to file this one under the “believe it when I see it” category as the prospects of him competing for Japan in wrestling seem to be quite a stretch at the moment.

This is judo, anything can happen! The cinderella story of Yumi Asaka’s 2011 Kodokan Cup

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(Hopefully some of you got that Fighting Films reference in the title. Danny Hicks, Neil Adams: if you ever read this, there’s no greater fan of your work than the JUDOFAN!)

2011 Kodokan Cup champion Yumi Asaka of Tokai University (photo source)

After yesterday’s rather pessimistic entry about -66kg national team member, Sho Tateyama, I think it appropriate to dedicate today’s blog post to those who, despite not having reached superstar status, have blessed us fans by never giving up when the going got rough. Their stories are a big part of what makes competitive judo so great. I can think of no better athlete that fits this criteria than former junior legend, Yumi Asaka.

Her high school rival, 2x Olympian, Misato Nakamura famously won the All-Japan Inter-high School Championships as a 1st-year high school student only to be denied ever competing in the tournament again as Asaka defeated her twice in the following years during the qualification stage (both were from Tokyo. Only the champion advanced to the All-Japan tournament). Asaka would be crowned All-Japan champion two years in a row, defending her title in the finals against former world champion, Haruna Asami. That same year, she went on a tear, winning three international tournaments as Japan’s top junior athlete in the -48kg category.

Upon graduation, she moved to Tokai University in 2008, where her results carried over, winning the France U20 International, and finishing 3rd at the Junior World Championships. A year later, she won the Belgian Senior International, which ended up being the last time she would stand on the podium at an international event. At the young age of 19, her career would head into a decline that she was never able to recover from.

Tomoko Fukumi, Haruna Asami, and Emi Yamagishi became the main protagonists in the years following the retirement of 5x Olympian Ryoko Tani, as Asaka essentially fell off the map. While her contemporaries made the transitions from universities to the elite trade teams of Japan, Asaka entered her final year of university, having failed to produce any remarkable results of note and thus, the decision was made to call an end to her career upon graduation. She decided that her final appearance would be at the 2011 Kodokan Cup, which takes place in November, and serves as a national tournament aimed at sorting out the national team for the following year. The Kodokan Cup is one of the most prestigious and competitive domestic tournaments in Japan, as it brings together the high schools (occasionally junior high students compete as well), universities, police departments, prison guards and trade teams for one huge tournament to decide the national team as well the representatives for the Tokyo Grand Slam (formerly Kano Cup) the following month. Only Japan’s “A” players (usually 1 per weight category) are absent.

As you probably have already guessed, the unheralded Asaka put in the performance of a lifetime, defeating world champion Tomoko Fukumi and junior world champion, Hiromi Endo in the process (source). She finished each match of the tournament by ippon. In her post-tournament interview, she announced her retirement and left the mat saying, “This is like a dream. This was my last tournament and I gave everything I had. I wonder if now, my name will be remembered just a little bit because of this victory” (rough translation). It was an unorthodox way of cementing her name in the laurels of judo folklore, but stories like hers are a part of what makes judo so great. After all, “This is judo. Anything can happen!”

At the conclusion of the tournament, Asaka quietly left competitive judo to teach at Matsumae Judo Juku, a junior club affiliated with Tokai University, and one of the most successful junior clubs in the history of judo. Please enjoy the final rounds of her incredible 2011 victory at the Kodokan Cup:

 

When being great is not good enough: the plight of former Jr. World Champion, Sho Tateyama

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As part of my job, I spend a large amount of weekends at high school and university judo tournaments, and while it was an exhilarating experience at the beginning, you soon find that the routine grind is not only stressful, but monotonous at times. From the lousy hotels, to seeing the same obnoxious coaches and abusive parents week in and week out, sometimes I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into. And, without a doubt, one of the most stressful things about going to so many tournaments is seeing the pressure put on young athletes and the weight that they must carry on their shoulders at such a young age. There have been countless times I have listened to people in the stands talking about the “next olympic champion”, only to watch that player fizzle out in the years following. I honestly can’t think of many activities that could possibly be more physically and mentally draining than elite Japanese judo. It is truly a one of a kind. A part of me always wants to jump in and save these poor kids from it all. This all brings me to the athlete I want to focus on today, the former Junior World Champion, Sho Tateyama.

If you have never heard of him, you wouldn’t be alone. He hasn’t featured on the world stage all that often, and yet, he has been consistently one of the best judoka on the planet since he was a high school student. In fact, if you take a quick look at his palmares, you’d think he was destined to be the next Koga or Nomura. Have a look at some of his accomplishments:

(source: http://judo.park24.co.jp/member/)

2011 – All-Japan U20 Champion

2011 – Junior World Champion

2012 – Russian Junior International Champion

2012 – German Junior International Champion

2013 – Belgium Senior International runner-up

2013 – Junior World Championships runner-up

2014 – Ulaanbataar Grand Prix 3rd place

2015 – All-Japan Weight Class Championships 3rd place

2016 – Grand Slam Tyumen 3rd place

2016 – All-Japan Businessman’s Championships 3rd place

 

The problem for Tateyama unfortunately, is that he competes in the -66kg category. When he was first coming onto the scene as a high school student, his division was being dominated by Masashi Ebinuma, 3x world champion, who dethroned another world champion, the one-hit wonder, Junpei Morishita. In 2011, Tateyama was the talk of the town, and most felt he would be the natural heir to Ebinuma’s throne. His fighting spirit and attack-to-the-very-end style he possesses were not only crowd pleasers, but made him popular amongst the Japanese coaches as well. His consistency landed him on the podium in nearly every tournament he entered from 2011-2014. All seemed to be going as planned. He was (and still is) right on par with his contemporaries, Kengo Takaichi and Tomofumi Takajo.

But then something called Hifumi Abe happened. At only 17 years of age, Abe quickly rose to prominence, seemingly skipping his junior career and jumping straight into the senior ranks. In the years following the London Olympics in 2012, no single judoka matched Abe in terms of fanfare and TV airtime. At the same time that Ebinuma was still at the pinnacle of his career, Joshi Maruyama, Japan’s most epic thrower in the category since Yukimasa Nakamura, also came onto the scene (Matt D’aquino does a great analysis of Maruyama, here).

In an instant, Tateyama went from the headlining act, to backup dancer. At only 23 years of age, there is still plenty of time for him to turn the tide back in his favor, but if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t count on it. Judo is a brutal sport physically and also mentally. It brings to light how unfair life can be sometimes. Tateyama, like countless others before him, would probably be competing for gold medals at all the grand slam tournaments and world and olympic championships if the flag he wore on his lapel were any other flag than the Japanese one. But, such is life, and such is a sport where there can be only 1 winner. Some of the greatest judoka on the planet are ones you have never heard of.

News short: Mashu Baker mulling surgery and minimum 8-month layoff (UPDATE: 4/5)

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Mashu Baker will likely miss this summer’s world championships due to injury, according to Excite News. On April 2nd, at the All-Japan Championships, Baker sustained a dislocated shoulder, which required him to withdraw from the match. The latest news reports that the injury to his right shoulder was originally sustained prior to the 2016 Rio Olympics where he won the gold medal, but the injury was kept hidden from the media.

Further, his physician had been recommending surgery since prior to the olympics, but set the recovery period at about 8 months, meaning he would likely be out of high-level competition for up to a year. He had suffered from a series of subluxations in the same shoulder prior to the olympics.

For Baker, the tournament turned out to be the perfect storm, as his decision to compete was left until the final hours. His family cancelled their trip from Tokyo to Fukuoka, anticipating his withdrawal due to an injury to his leg. The timing was also difficult as his entrance into his new company after graduation from university overlapped with the tournament. His former coach at Tokai University, Kenichiro Agemizu reported to the press that prior to the tournament he had hardly been able to train.

However, the pressure to compete in the tournament was great as entrance was nearly a prerequisite for consideration for selection to the world championship team. Now Baker must decide on the timing to undergo surgery, but we can be almost certain that he will miss the April 29th All-Japan Open Weight Championships.

The Japan’s team has a large number of high profile athletes sitting out with injury at the moment. It makes one marvel at the thought that Ryoki Tani competed in 5 consecutive olympic games and went on winning streaks nearing the hundreds at certain points in her career.

 

*UPDATE: Baker will not be taking part in the open weight championships, but his selection for the world championships is still a possibility depending on his surgery and recovery. (source: https://mainichi.jp/articles/20170406/k00/00m/050/131000c)