Exactly I came here after watch a Kimura documentary right before this and figured for certain Kimura would be number one or at least top 3 lol I’m not an expert or anything though
Riner is the best judoka ever, far more titles than anyone and he would have eaten anyone on this list in a match in his prime. Ono should be here too, and Koga.
I don't know, Yamashita was unbeaten, which Riner couldn't achieve although he had a much longer career. We'll never know. (And, for the record, I'm french)
How about a judoka that has won 5 Olympic Medals (2 are gold) and 7 consecutive World Championships in an era when World Championships were every second year rather than every year. Easily the best pound-for-pound judo competitor ever. Affectionately known in Japan as "Yawara Chan", she is Ryoko Tamura/Tani
100% number 1 every time, I was in the stadium in Barcelona in 1992 when she got her first Olympic bronze medal, she was 17 years old or something, the great karen briggs of Britain was brilliant that day also
And Jeon Ki Young ?... Koga ?... I understand, it's not easy even if there are logic champions like Yamashita, Saïto, Ruska, Geesink and, of course and especially, Riner... But I have other names in my mind...
Even though I'm french, I can't manage to be impressed by Teddy Riner... in my opinion, he's not a great judoka, he's just a physical monster, he never showed great technique, and he basically wins because his taller, bigger and more powerful than most of his opponents. If he was like 1m95/6ft39 and 110Kg/242lb, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be as much successful.
It's astonishing that this ranking completely omits Isao Okano. In my opinion, he is number one on the list. As a middleweight, he won the All Japan Judo Championships twice...in the OPEN division....defeating men who outweighed him by nearly 100 pounds (1967 and 1969. He was second in 1968). And of course, he won gold in the 1964 Olympics, and gold in the 1965 World Championships.
@@neildillon837 Thanks for your comment. While I certainly respect your personal experience in the matter....just the objective criteria for his accomplishments are what inform my opinion. You are well aware of the magnitude of the All Japan Judo Championships...and the extraordinary feat of a middleweight winning the Open division....even once. At any rate....as much as I admire the other top guys....Okano's accomplishments are - to me - what set him apart from all others.
Great video that should be updated as there is no question today that Teddy Riner is the one and only one GOAT. No doubt allowed after his 2 gold medals in Paris 2024.
lol what a joke. Heavyweight is by far the weakest division, of course many heavyweights hold many titles. Non of them them would achive anything in the lighter divisions
Paweł Nastula had the longest series of victories, he defeated over 200 opponents, from 1994 to 1998 he was undefeated. He became the Olympic champion in Atlanta in 1996, a two-time world champion and a three-time European champion
It's all relative and I don't doubt any of Riner's accomplishments. He is great, but I think people forget that Yamashita didn't win as many big tournaments, because they did not exist, including competing in a day and age where winning the World Championships 4x in a row and going undefeated throughout the whole time meant you were undefeated and on top for a minimum of 10-12 years as the world championships back in the day were only once every 4-years. Japan also boycotted the 1980 Olympics so he only competed in them once. He also decided to retire at 28, so my biased opinion says his ranking number one on this list is viable.
We cannot compare heavyweight with -90 or -73 for example because it is far less competitive. What Iliadis or Inoue or Ono or Koga achieved is much more difficult because their catégories are much more complicated to dominate.
Thanks a lot for your video. I may have missed something but I didn't see Shōzō Fujii, four consecutive world champions (1971, 1973, 1975, 1979). I can assure you that those who saw him fight still remember him, he was certainly one of the most beautiful judoka of all time.
Kind of stupid ranking, you are comparing different eras with different rules. Before your opponent was unknown, now with youtube judo has become harder, and everyone studies his opponent. 73 kg and 81kg are the hardest categories, S. ONO should be number 1, and judokas knew that he was unbeatable. ONO has been excluded a lot of time from Japan's team, and he could win much more trophies.
Wery funny comments?Founder of judo Kano Jigoro is a father of our sport so he is above ranking lists.This list is a PRIVATE CHOICE of one obviously young man.Advice:in any ranking of anything one looks at the legacy and influence that person or a thing left .In that regard in this list Kosei Inoue is a very strong cause his style got coppied all over the world.Seccondly,magnificent Koga intorduced new variations of seoi nage and sode and created an unike style.So he should be a must here.No dissrespect to nomura but his morote is abrilliant but classic technique,Koga is a fenomenon and novelty.Kimura is copied all over the world in judo and BJJ and sambo.even techniques are named after him. Isao Okano was a God of Judo in his prime in japan.both as a fighter and a coach he was a fenomenon.but youbg peole do not know about him .
I met Anton Gesink in Brussels European championships in 1980, I was a 60 kg competitor, he was already retired and was huuuge, twice my body size hahaha nice big man. I remember Yanashita too :-)
As a Czech I´m kinda dissapointed to not see Lukáš Krpálek in this list. He won in two heaviest cathegories continent and world championships and is 2 times olympic winner too
I Miss the brillant east German Dietmar Lorenz and the great english Judoka Neill Adams.anyway,i think its very diff.to list up the "best" ,expect Sensei Yamashita and Anton Geesink.they are Legends,No doubt.
J'ardji Zviada'uri that is the original name&surname of Ilias Iliadis. He got away with his Georgian origin ( which is a rather rare among the Georgians) for being granted the greek citizenship. Well, freedom of choice....😐
Just a suggestion when writing the script for the video..its probably best to write the years in words.. ex: "nineteen ninety five" instead of in numbers as 1995..so that the AI converting it from text to audio wont say "one thousand nine hundred and ninety five" 😅
When Yamashita was active, the World Championships were held every two years. In addition, he missed the opportunity to compete in the 1977 World Championships and the 1980 Olympics. It was for political reasons that had nothing to do with him. He was scheduled to compete in the over 95kg weight class and the open at the 1980 Olympics. So he coulda won three more world titles. He's a graduate of Tōkai University, founded by a pro-Soviet socialist, and has remained extremely involved in that university ever since his graduation. That's why he was close to Putin, although as of now he has distanced himself from Putin. Like the IOC, he feels that Russian athletes should be allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics. His attitude is probably based more on his own experience of being at the mercy of politics in the past than on his relationship with Putin. In both cases, though, the seeds were sown by Russia.
As for me there should also be ono shohei and kimura masahiko in that list. Even kosei inoue said that ono ist in his opinion the best judoka, because he combined all aspect you would need speed power technique.
Pretty strong bias in favour of the heavyweight category. Now, you did say that one of your criteria was success at prestigious tournaments, and some would argue that the heavyweight division is more prestigious, but I still find the bias pretty extreme.
It's Auto Geesink and not Gijsken. Next to winning Olympic gold in Japan, he also became a legend during these Olympics by ordering his coach of the tatami after his victory. Hereby winning the respect of all Japanese Judokas and the public in Japan.
A very European list, without detracting from the names. How is it possible that they are not there; Shoei Ono, Toshihiko Koga, Isao Okano, Ryoko Tamura, Shozo Fujii, Kimura, also the unbeatable Pavel Nastula. Any of the Japanese on the list has a more technical judo than the Europeans named. Sorry if I forget some great Judoka.
I had trained with Ilias Iliadis in 2003 in the Hellenic championship, his trainer (the Greek national team trainer) is a cousin of my trainer, i was in the 90Kg he was in the 81Kg, we "sparred", more like he played with me, although almost 10Kg difference the dude felt like he was double my weight, i had literally 0 chance in winning.
Shame on ilias iliadis that is not georgian name! Changes his name his real name ia jarji and he has to be consider as georgian judoka not greek he went to live in greece for living doesn't make you greek shame georgian judo people that let him go and fight for greek name!
In Japan they have a saying: no one before Kimura, no one after. He lost 4 Judo matches during his life time, all in 1935 at age 18. He never lost a match again.
Yamashita is probably forever #1 given his achievements and the timing of his reign, when Judo started becoming popular worldwide. He sort of is the Michael Jordan of judo, athletes in the future might become even better, but none will beat his relevance in his time.
En fait ils ont deux à quatre fois la force d'un homme ordinaire. Ce sont des haltérophiles qui s'entrainent à tous les jours. Le judo y est pour une part moindre.
Peter Seisenbacher He competed in the middleweight category (−86 kg) at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympics and won two gold medals, in 1984 and 1988.[2] He also won a world title in 1985 and European title in 1986.[3]
