Judo/Sambo >> For Judom: Why Japan struggled this Olympics....

belowzero - OK, thanks. I felt that the article was pure trash, and that guys who seriously train Judo should ignore such reporting. But you are free to believe what you read.

Here is my take on why Japan(men) was able to win only one gold medals.

1) Olympic games are held only every four years, and it is hard for ANYONE to win gold medals. To secure your winning of the gold, you have to be far superior to other competitors, and the way Judo has been trained throughout the world(lots of Judoka from different countries train TOGETHER very often) makes it extremely difficult for only one country to be outstanding.

2) Hiraoka was not able to win the gold because he was just the silver medal material. He tried a counter, which was the right decision, but failed to finish it correctly. That was it. He could have won if he had slightly changed the angle of his counter, like he himself said. But my guess is he would lose to the same opponent 7/10.

3) Ebinuma failed to win the gold mostly because he was susceptible to sumi gaeshi, like most other Japanese players are. However, he proved that he was one of the best by showing a beautiul ippon in the match for a bronze. I'm sure that he will be a better player with a lesson learned.

4) Nakaya could not win the gold PARTLY because he had just recovered from his elbow and neck injury. However, being ranked no. 1 as he was, he finished with a silver.

5) Nakai would not have won the gold under any circumstances.

6) Nishiyama would not have won the gold under any circumstances. He did his best, though, winning the bronze.

7) Anai underestimated his opponent, probably because he had beaten him a couple of times, IIRC, once by pinnng for an ippon. He must have thought that there would come a matte immediately, which did not come to his surprise.

8) I did not see how Kamikawa fought, so I would not comment, but I was not surprised because there are a couple of guys even in Japan who had beaten him before the London.

In my eyes by winning two silvers and two bronzes Japan(men)did no worse this time than they did at the Seoul Olympics, where they won one gold and three bronzes.

Chocolate Shatner - UPDATE:

Seems like my fears are being justified. After the defeat, many journalists/pundits/sports writers are getting their few yen in, getting an article out of dissecting why the Japanese men did so poorly.

And, what reasons did they come up with?

The point system. Specifically, the IJF competition point schedule, which the journalists and some of the players blamed for them being tired come the Olympics.

However, the Daily Yomiuri (the English version of the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun) had a clue that I think is being lost in the whole hubub. Mika Sugimoto, the women's over 78 kilo player, lamented the strength (another excuse tossed out with regularity) and preparation of other countries' players. "We practiced hard," she said. "I didn't think anyone practiced harder than us."

Mika-chan, it wasn't that you practiced less or that they practiced harder. The problem lies in that you practiced the same thing, over and over, and your coaches never made you adjust your game (I'm not meaning just you, but the entire Olympic team) to what you would see.

It would be similar to in the NFL, if a team decides that they will practice the same defense and offense used by the Philadelphia Eagles of the 1950's. It doesn't matter if the players are practicing harder than any other team in the NFL, the schemes and strategies used in the 1950's are not going to win in the modern NFL.

Using the same exact judo game that was used in the 1990's is not going to win consistently today. Not being strong enough because your coaches don't train you correctly is not going to help you win consistently.

But, it looks like at least in the short term, Japan is going to make excuses instead of actually making changes.

Wasa-B - Irony: Japanese guys win gold in both wrestling and boxing but not judo. First wrestling gold in 24 years with Yonemitsu.

judom - Sure, Yoshida won gold medals, but in general women's wrestling is popular in very few countries, so I definitely would not equate that to Karelin or Saitiev.

nogidavid -  how do you guys think the tsunami affected japanese sporting performance?

Chocolate Shatner - 

nogidavid -  how do you guys think the tsunami affected japanese sporting performance?

totally overplayed by media for the human interest story. I live here, man. The freakin' tsunami was over a year ago. It disrupted shit in most areas for, at most, a month. In the Tohoku region (which is very lightly populated, even before the quake) there is still shit going down, but the main players don't live in Fukushima. They live and train in Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, etc. Of those, Tokyo had some disruption due to the quake itself, but quickly got shit sorted back out. Other than psychological stress which has again mostly dissipated, the quake had no effect.

Chocolate Shatner - 

nogidavid -  how do you guys think the tsunami affected japanese sporting performance?

totally overplayed by media for the human interest story. I live here, man. The freakin' tsunami was over a year ago. It disrupted shit in most areas for, at most, a month. In the Tohoku region (which is very lightly populated, even before the quake) there is still shit going down, but the main players don't live in Fukushima. They live and train in Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, etc. Of those, Tokyo had some disruption due to the quake itself, but quickly got shit sorted back out. Other than psychological stress which has again mostly dissipated, the quake had no effect.