Many people wonder if the Judo World Championships have indeed increased in strength now two judoka can participate in each category and the IJF set a new record in participating athletes. Below you can see a comparison between the medallists of 2009 and their performances this year.
“Staying there is tougher than getting there.”
Takamasa Anai is the only medalist of the 2009 World Championships who has improved his performance. “Staying there is tougher than getting there”, although we immediately have to admit that staying there is in fact an improvement for Teddy Riner who was the only today who prolonged his title. Henk Grol (2nd), Maki Tsukada (3rd) and Idalis Ortiz (3rd) repeated last year’s performance.
Nine of the 16 medalists of last year in today’s categories (U78, O78, U100, O100) performed weaker, two didn’t participate this year.
It says a lot of the strength about this year’s field.
2009 medallists compared to 2010
Takamasa Anai (JPN) 3 in 2009, 1 in 2010
Teddy Riner (FRA) 1 in 2009, 1 in 2010
Henk Grol (NED) 2 in 2009, 2 in 2010
Maki Tsukada (JPN) 3 in 2009, 3 in 2010
Idalis Ortiz Boucurt (CUB) 3 in 2009, 3 in 2010
Heide Wollert (GER) 3 in 2009, 5 in 2010
Maryna Pryshchepa (UKR) 2 in 2009, 5 in 2010
Maxim Rakov (KAZ) 1 in 2009, 5 in 2010
Ramadan Darwish (EGY) 3 in 2009, 9 in 2010
Abdullo Tangriev (UZB) 3 in 2009, 17 in 2010
Oscar Brayson (CUB) 2 in 2009, 17 in 2010
Karina Bryant (GBR) 2 in 2009, 17 in 2010
Marhinde Verkerk (NED) 1 in 2009, 17 in 2010
Marius Paskevicius (LTU) 3 in 2009, 33 in 2010
Wen Tong (CHN) and Sun Yi (CHN) don not participate this year.
