Judo
History
Contrary to sports whose history does not point out who invented it, Judo's DNA is unquestionable: its ‘father' is Jigoro Jano from Japan.
As a young university professor at the age of twenty-three and after studying jiu-jitsu techniques in detail, Kano decided to select, modify and enhance some of the martial art's strikes, always taking care to remove the most dangerous. Thus, he developed a new fighting style named judo. In 1882, he founded the Kodokan Institute, which from its beginning advocated for the technical improvement of judo fighters, linked to spiritual enhancement and based on an eastern philosophy that determines that often one has to give in to win.
In 1886, four years after founding the Kodokan Institute, a competition was organised between several martial arts schools in Japan. The idea behind the event was to choose instructors for the Japanese Police Academy. Indeed, Kano's new martial art proved to be efficient. Kodokan Institute athletes managed several wins and the success achieved in the competition led to judo rising to fame in the country, which in turn made it popular with the Japanese.
In 1899, judo arrived in England by the hands of Jigoro Kano himself, as well as the result of the effort put in by masters G. Koizumi and Yukio Tani. In 1902, the sport made its way to the United States, when a demonstration session was staged for President Frankling Roosevelt, who actually practiced the sport. In 1905, it was taken to France and rapidly spread through Europe, before becoming popular the world over.
The sport was introduced in Brazil around 1922 by Eisei Maeda - also called Count Koma -, who made the first demonstration of the sport in the city of Porto Alegre, before moving off to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Despite Maeda's and other masters' efforts, it took years for judo to become popular in Brazil. The process started in 1938, when a group of Japanese nationals arrived in Brazil. Led by instructor Riuzo Ogawa, they founded the Ogawa Academy and started teaching the sport. From that moment on, judo gained momentum.
On 18 March 1969, the Brazilian Judo Confederation (CBJ) was founded. At the 1972 Games in Munich, a Japanese national named Chiaki Ishii, who had naturalised himself as a Brazilian citizenship won the bronze medal in the half-heavyweight event. Therefore, he wrote his name in the history books as the first judo athlete to ever win an Olympic medal for Brazil. Indeed, he won the first of a total of 19 Olympic medals won by Brazil in judo up to this day.
Curiosities
Women, only from Barcelona onwards
Judo made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 1964 as a demonstration sport and judokas only started competing for medals at the 1972 Games in Munich. However, it was not until 20 years later in Barcelona, that women were allowed to compete for medals.
Scoreless champion
The 1988 Olympics in Seoul proved to be a milestone for Brazilian judo: Aurelio Miguel from the state of São Paulo, scooped up the country’s first gold medal in the half-heavyweight class. The amazing thing was that the Brazilian athlete won the Olympic title without scoring a single point in all of his five fights at the Seoul Games. In his first two fights, the decision fell to the judges. In the other three, including the final, his opponents were penalised for being too passive.
See also
Confederação Brasileira de Judô (CBJ)
Site: www.cbj.com.br
E-mail: cbj@cbj.com.br
Federação Internacional de Judô (IJF): www.ijf.org
