Hirotaka Okada

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Hirotaka Okada ( Japanese 岡 田弘隆 , Okada Hirotaka ; born February 22, 1967 in Ōno , Gifu Prefecture ) is a former Japanese judoka who was world champion light middleweight in 1987 and world champion middleweight in 1991.

Athletic career

The 1.70 m tall Hirotaka Okada fought until 1989 in the light middleweight division, the weight class up to 78 kilograms. In 1986 he was third in the Junior World Championships. At the end of 1986 he won the World Student Championships. At the 1987 World Championships in Essen, he defeated Waldemar Legień from Poland in the quarter-finals and the Australian Luis Val in the semi-finals . With his final victory over Bashir Varajew from the Soviet Union, he won the first world title. In 1988, Okada defeated the Yugoslav Filip Leščak with a Yuko rating in his first fight at the Olympic Games in Seoul . In the round of 16 he was defeated by Frenchman Pascal Tayot after 4:53 minutes by Ippon.

From 1990 Okada started in the middleweight division, the weight class up to 86 kilograms. In August 1990 he won the Goodwill Games in Seattle. Two months later, he won the title at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. In 1991 he defeated the Polish Waldemar Legień in the quarter-finals at the World Championships in Barcelona as in 1987. After his semi-final victory over the South Korean Yang Jong-ok and the final victory over Joseph Wanag from the United States, he was world champion for the second time. The 1992 Olympic Games also took place in Barcelona . After two wins, Okada lost to Canadian Nicolas Gill in the quarterfinals through Waza-Ari. In the hope round, Okada won over Ben Spijkers from the Netherlands , Yang Jong-ok from South Korea and Axel Lobenstein from Germany . After these three victories, Okada received a bronze medal. In 1993 Okada won the Asian Championships in Macau. His last international tournament victory was winning the 1995 World Masters in Munich.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Match balance at judoinside.com
  2. ↑ Volker Kluge : Olympic Summer Games. Chronicle IV. Seoul 1988 - Atlanta 1996. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-328-00830-6 . P. 107
  3. ↑ Volker Kluge : Olympic Summer Games. Chronicle IV. Seoul 1988 - Atlanta 1996. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-328-00830-6 . P. 422f
personal data
SURNAME Okada, Hirotaka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese judoka
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Ono , Gifu Prefecture