Agony and the ecstasy

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Agony and the ecstasy

Georgia’s Lasha Shavdatuashvili celebrates after defeating Japan’s Masashi Ebinuma (blue) in their men’s -66kg semifinal judo match at the London Olympics on Sunday.

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18 Comments

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  • 1

    spudman

    Watching the Judo yesterday, I thought the Japanese were arrogant in their delegations demeanor. The athletes were humble and sincere but the belligerent attitude from the arms folded scowling oyaji's wasn't a good look. Maybe it's time the Judo association swept the top floor, no wait that would be the Judo association.

    Good luck Judokas but your managers look like killjoys.

  • -1

    mysteriousneo

    Good luck for the next time.....

  • 0

    Serrano

    Yea! And gaaaaa!

  • 4

    Yubaru

    Spudman I agree.

    After Ebinuma took the bronze in the repechage bout, the coach of the guy he beat from Poland warmly congratulated Ebinuma as they were walking away from mat. Ebinuma's coach was right behind him and saw the exchange as he walked past both the coach and Zagrodnik, the guy Ebinuma beat, but didn't make any acknowledgement of either the coach or Zagrodnik, and from what I saw, arrogantly overlooked both of them and continued walking out of the arena.

    A true sportsman would have, at the minimum, acknowledged his competition win or lose. The coaches arrogance jumped out from the TV. The delegation needs an overhaul that's for sure!

  • 0

    smithinjapan

    Yubaru: "A true sportsman would have, at the minimum, acknowledged his competition win or lose. "

    Maybe he was hoping his player would win via another judge reversal. Anyway, good to see no one nation is dominating the sport.

  • 1

    MasterBape

    World judo has been catching up with the Japanese in recent years.

    Japan still scoops most of the medals, but its reign of dominance has come to an end...and the Japanese don't like it. Hence angry looks from mounting pressure to succeed in a sport where a Japanese podium position is no longer a given.

  • 1

    Yubaru

    World judo has been catching up with the Japanese 柔道 in recent years.

    FYI fixed that for you! And in reality the Japanese Judo Association has for, at least since the Peking Olympics, been first, whining about, and then worrying about, along with some serious hang-wringing and teeth sucking, how to counter the "foreigners" rise in strength in Judo.

    The same thing is happening today in Judo that happened roughly 40 or 50 years ago in volleyball.

    However a bigger problem for Japan and the Judo Association is how they are going to teach younger participants in the sport from now on. Japanese take great pride in the tradition of 柔道 and shy away from teaching Judo as many foreigners learn the sport.

    To many Japanese 柔道 is not just a sport but a way of life. And their misconceptions, ignorance, and arrogance, in believing that only Japanese can succeed on the world stage at the sport are taking huge hits.

    Their pride has been hurt, and hopefully in the future next generations of competitors can learn from their predecessors mistakes and bring a balance back to the sport for Japan and the Japanese people.

  • 0

    Debucho

    turned the TV to see a big judo competition. Then realized it was the Olympics when they showed 5 seconds of swimming.

  • 7

    OKusa

    Perhaps the biggest kick to the Oyaji's kintamas was the North Korean girl winning the gold medal. Right now there is some sort of meeting happening to see how they can change the rules once again to make it harder for the Gaijin to take another medal.

    For those who are not familiar with Judo, after the last Olympics they took out some very important  techniques to try and quash the downfall of the Nippon supremacy from the crafty foreigners. In particular, they removed the double leg takedown which can be used quite effectively to get a takedown and pin an opponent. Their reasoning was that "日本の柔道はきれいな技を使わないとダメ" which translates as Japanese Judo should only uses beautiful techniques to win.

    If you think about how absurd it is to change the rules of the sport just to try and take out the advantage away from foreign athletes who have size and power, then you can get a glimpse at the nonsensical thinking that actually runs most of this country. If basketball was a Japanese sport, it would be equivalent to removing slam dunks to try to eliminate the advantage of size and power. "やっぱり。。。日本のバスケットはきれいなシュットしないと"

    I have nothing left to say...

  • 4

    Lowly

    Why am I happy when someone beats Jpn in the olympics, esp judo?

    I used to be cheering for the Jpns athletes. But the nationalism (= self-love and narcissism) here can be overpowering, and it proved toxic to me.

    Seeing the bad manners of these coaches makes me want to say "Why do you keep talking about how kind and polite the Jpns are compared to everyone else? Admit you are human. And the others are human too."

    Ya, peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.

  • 1

    MasterBape

    Morote Gari is one technique that was removed.

    This is the front double leg takedown, although a recognized Kodokan technique, it isn't used much by Japanese judo players.

    European judo is a lot more aggressive in comparison to the "pure" upright stance of the Japanese.

    Okasa and lowly are quite correct: rather than the Japanese adapt their own game to beat their rivals, they prefer to make it harder for other nations by eliminating certain techniques that aren't in favour with the Japanese game.

    It makes you wonder how such a developed country, at times, can be in such a rut.

  • 0

    Thomas Anderson

    Okasa and lowly are quite correct: rather than the Japanese adapt their own game to beat their rivals, they prefer to make it harder for other nations by eliminating certain techniques that aren't in favour with the Japanese game.

    It's funny because some Japanese accuse the foreign of changing the rules in their favor...

  • 2

    Debucho

    In my house (mixed marriage w/ one half son) I made a rule that we have to watch other sports the same amount of time we watch judo. So, one hour of judo, then we have to watch another sport for an hour. Unfortunately, Japanese TV does not broadcast other sports enough to allow this balance. No beach volleyball, no shooting. You would think it was the 2012 Judo Olympics. 100% Amateur coverage.

  • 2

    Lowly

    I am sick of all the J-whining about rules changes, "their" sport being "taken over" by foreigners, etc etc., the fabric of the new judo uniform not being appropriate to J-judo, or J- athletes.

    Just suck it up and compete in the thing you signed up to compete in. If you don't like it stay in Japan or join the wrestling team instead. And this use of the "foreigners" word at their convenience. When will they learn they are the foreigners. (Just as much as anyone else is).

  • 0

    Lowly

    Better yet, throw out judo as an olympic sport and have BJJ instead. Better movement, I think, and with the "Brazilian" in the name of the sport they can still have some of the pride in originating in Japan, but none of the stupid pressure to show up the world as the masters of of the sport and the only ones capable of understanding its deepness.

  • 0

    avenger

    Yeah the Japanese coaches are arrogant. Every team is shaking the other teams players hands except for the Japanese.

  • 0

    avenger

    The new rule changes is like the Japanese asking UFC to remove head shots and not to use too much power because its not fair for fighters with small muscles Hey, do real weight training like everyone else.

  • 0

    kaeru37

    Yes I have been watching and the japanese coaches are indeed arrogant. But, it is becoming a sport where strength and size matter more than technique. I am bored by what I see in London. It has come down to push and pull, and the athlete who is the least tired from all that pushing and pulling will win. So I welcome putting more techniques back into judo. Also, the judges are inept.

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