The Olympics Blog » Judo

Tuvshinbayar Naidan Bags First Gold Medal for Mongolia

bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:38:00 +0000

Let us congratulate judoka Tuvshinbayar Naidan for winning the first ever gold medal for Mongolia. It is a historic achievement for Tuvshinbayar and for Mongolia which has won a total of 15 silver and bronze Olympic medals in the past.

With Naidan’s victory, it would be mission accomplished for the Mongolian Olympic team which targeted two medals when it arrived in Beijing. The other medalist is Otryad Gundegmaa who won a silver medal in shooting [women's 25m pistol].

Photo source: beijing2008

Elnur Mammadli Does It All For Us

bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:01:00 +0000

Judo gold medalist Elnur Mammadli of Azerbaijan should be our ultimate Olympic idol. Why? Because he did everything we have been monitoring in this blog, you know, the grand old traditions of Olympic medal biting, Olympic flag waving, and Olympic arms raising. He is our three-in-one gold medalist. Go Elnur!

By the way, for those of you interested about how much money Olympians make, Elnur will be receiving AZN 100,000 and NOC–AZN 50,000 from the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee as a reward for his gold medal victory. The amount should be about US$ 123,777 if my calculation is correct.
Photo source: beijing 2008

Irakli Tsirekidze: Georgia on His Mind

bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:16:00 +0000

Judoka Irakli Tsirekidze won the second medal for Georgia following his countryman, Manuchar Kvirkvelia’s triumph in wrestling. Irakli defeated Algerian Amar Benikhlef to bag the judo men’s 90-kg title.

Photo source: tvnz

Xian Dongmei Makes it Five Golds for China

bill — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Judoka Xian Dongmei wins the fifth gold for China. It seems like Chinese athletes are not buckling under the tremendous hometown pressure. Good for them. I hope my favorite, Liu Xiang, will pass the test as well.

Meanwhile, it’s still all quiet on the western front. They have two gold medals so far after two days of Olympic competition. Should the Americans start worrying now? Well, it’s too early to tell.

Going back to Xian Dongmei, we should include her in our Dara Mama Club or the elite group of older women athletes or working moms who are participating in the Olympics. Xian is 32 years old [kind of old for sports in general] and is a proud mom to her 18 month old daughter.

A quote from Xian on being a working mom/athlete [via xinhuanet]:

“It is very common for judokas from other countries to continue their career with families, but in China I am probably the only mama judoka for the moment” Xian said.

“Although my daughter has not bothered me when I was preparing for the Games in Beijing, I owe my daughter and my husband a lot,” Xian said, hoping the second Olympic gold medal could be a present for her 18-month-old child.

Go Xian! Go Dara Mamas!

Photo source: canadianpress/cbc

Male Olympic Hotties: Choi Minho

bill — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Some of you are googling for “male Olympic hotties” so from now on I’m going to call every male Olympic gold medalist a “hottie” to get your traffic. [Evil, huh?] But, seriously, what’s hotter than a gold medal? Maybe a diamond medal but since they don’t make diamond medals, a gold medal is the hottest of them all. Anyone with an Olympic gold medal = hottie.

Anyways, you’ve already met, judoka Choi Minho, but here’s more pictures of him. My bet is that Korean school girls will soon ditch Rain and idolize this guy who, seemingly [but understandably in this instance], likes to cry.

He beat guys bigger than him? Go Choi Minho!

Photo credits: People’s Daily and beijing2008

Choi Minho Scores One Gold For South Korea

bill — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:53:00 +0000

Methinks those silly South Korean school girls should now end their obsession with Rain and focus their attention to judoka Choi Minho who won the first gold medal for South Korea. He’s got everything that matters: good looks and an Olympic gold medal. Does Rain have a gold medal? None. Nada. Zero.

And here’s another reason why you schoolgirls should like Minho: he believes in his parent’s dreams and these dreams do come true. From monstersandcritics:

Minho later revealed that his parents had recently dreamed of a big moment.

‘I want to tell my mother. Before I came to Beijing my mother had a dream that a lot of people came to our house to say congratulations to Minho. My father said he also had a dream, that ‘the sun shone from his heart.’

‘I can’t believe that the dreams have come true,’ said Choi, who improved from his bronze medal finish 2004 in Athens.

Photo source: beijing2008

Alina Alexandra Dumitru Scores One Gold For Romania

bill — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:36:00 +0000

Romania’s judoka Alina Alexandra Dumitru should write a book entitled “How to Win an Olympic Gold Medal in 80 Seconds“. I think it will be a best seller.

Felicitări, Alina, you made Romania very proud indeed.

Romania related:
Nicolae Linca, Gold Medalist, 79

Photo credit: chinadaily.com

The Flag Bearers: Nigeria’s Vivian Yusuf

bill — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:58:00 +0000

Finally. After previously posting about ten male Olympic flag bearers, it’s good to come across a woman flag bearer: judoka Vivian Yusuf of Nigeria. Yusuf is a silver medalist during the recently concluded African Judo Championships in Morocco and is the only judoka from Africa who is going to Beijing.

Photo source: AFP via daylife

The Flag Bearers: Ilias Iliadis of Greece

bill — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:45:00 +0000

What earned judoka Ilias Iliadis the right to be his country’s Olympic flag bearer? He bagged a gold medal during the Athens 2004 Games and could very well bag another one in Beijing. Since Greece is traditionally the first country to enter the Olympic stadium, Ilias will be the very first athlete to appear at the Bird’s Nest when the Games open in August 8, 2008.

Photo source: BBC

Missing in Action: Cuba’s Yurisel Laborde

bill — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:20:00 +0000

Did she defect to the United States? Or did something bad happen to her that we still don’t know about? Yurisel Laborde is a Cuban judoka who won a bronze medal during the 2004 Olympics in Athens. She also boasts of two Judo World Championships gold medals which she bagged in 2005 and 2007.

After winning a gold medal during the 2008 Pan American Judo Championships in Miami last week, Yurisel disappeared. Pretty mysterious, eh?

Maybe the “family-style atmosphere” within Cuba’s sports program which we blogged about earlier, isn’t as enticing as the greener pastures of the good old US of A?