Tadahiro Nomura is my favorite Judo competitor of all time.
Purists and others will disagree. Whatever.
The guy is 3 time Olympic Gold medalist.
"He is the only judoka in the world who has won three Olympic gold medals in a row, all in the extra lightweight (-60 kg) division."
He is also a gold and bronze medalist in the World Championships.
It's rare a competitor can peak at the right time to medal in the Olympics.
For 12 years, this guy won and did so convincingly on the exact right day 3 times in a row.
As is the life of Judo, watching him fail to qualify, essentially by one match/tournament for this 4th Olympics was heart breaking and I will always wonder what would have happened if.....
At any rate, I find it hard to believe anyone will ever match his 3 consecutive gold medals.
That being said, the documentary is also a testament to the extremely severe physical toll necessary to even compete at the world class level in the "gentle art" much less become one of its greatest competitors of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment