What do you see in the defeat of the World All Japan Championship that Judo Shohei Ono saw by “continuing to win”?
In April, Shohei Ono (30 = Asahi Kasei), the face of the Japanese judo world who won the Olympics for the second time in a row, challenged the All Japan Championship, where he competes indiscriminately for weight. What did you want to show while being prepared for an absolute disadvantage in the 73㌔ class middleweight body?
Stories2022.05.17 11:00
Tokyo Olympics Judo Men’s 73kg class Gold medal Shohei Ono = July 26, 2009
73 kg class VS 90 kg class
“I couldn’t express it.”
Shohei Ono (30 = Asahi Kasei), who has a fresh scratch on his nose, was biting his lips while staring at the tatami mats of the Nippon Budokan, which had finished the fight just a few minutes ago. His eyes are still sharp.
At the Judo All-Japan Championship, which was the third time, we had a meeting in the “head-to-head game” that was set as the proposition.
Beyond Muneya Maeda, who is good at osotogari in the 90-kilometer class, he skipped the setup of fighting for kumite with the agreement of both ideas, holding the back collar, not bending his waist, power and power. I felt the illusion that the dogi was about to be torn off by the collision.
Inside the venue, just swing your right foot up to osotogari and it will boil. At the end of the game, he couldn’t stand Maeda’s Osotogari and was knocked down flat, losing its effectiveness and losing as it was.
It was after that that I was blessed with the opportunity to exchange words one-on-one with Ohno. He never said to the leaking “I couldn’t express it.”
“I wanted you to win”
Shohei Ono, the gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, puts his hand on the Hinomaru and asks for you = August 8, 2016
It was a feeling that could not be conveyed after losing the first match to the same 90kg class player at the 17th All Japan Championship.
Approximately one year after he won the gold medal, embodying the traditional Japanese judo thrown at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. It was the second All Japan Championship that I headed for while establishing a new position as a signboard in the judo world.
Even at that time, it was a “head-to-head game.” Most of the mood was more praise than the defeat.
Ohno (right) who lost one in the second round of the All Japan Championship in 2017
However, after finishing the interview, he was seen supporting his back on the wall of the waiting room and thinking for 30 minutes with his middle waist. He does not allow the praise of others to be easily used as an excuse. From his face, which he bites his lips a little, he guessed so.
At that time, I couldn’t easily say that I wanted to win. The decision to play was enough for him. It’s been 5 years since then. I had a one-sided feeling that I should have just praised him at that time.
Ohno was looking for more explosive attention, and he thought it was important to win.
Ohno talks about his readiness for the All Japan Championship = April 21, 2010
“It’s natural to lose and learn”
Why did you want to listen to the victory even now, five years later? That was the decisive word in November last year.
“It’s natural to lose and learn a lot, but there was also the work of winning, thinking and learning from it, and the world that you can see because you keep winning from Rio to Tokyo.”
I think last year’s Tokyo Olympics was a tournament where the value of medals fluctuated. Due to the influence of the new coronavirus, the event was held without spectators, and some players were forced to miss the event, and even if they were able to participate, it was hard to say that they were fully prepared. Personally, I was more attracted to the loser’s speech, and I often felt that I set the results aside and explored the value of sports. That’s why I was surprised.
Is it okay for everyone to play sports without worrying about winning or losing and find value only there, or is it okay to continue to escape from the result of winning or losing?
“Lose and learn” “I lost but it’s worth it”
If only that discourse is disseminated, that is also strange.
So what should we put at the other end of the spectrum? That was Ohno’s words.
“There was a world I could see because I kept winning.”
Immediately after the All Japan Championship match on that day, he said he wanted him to win.
Ohno, who tried to think for a while, returned as follows.
“But it was fun without thinking about anything.”
Ohno = July 26, 2009, attacking Shavdatu Asibiri (left) in the Tokyo Olympics Judo Men’s 73kg class final
Two consecutive Olympic titles. I think I had a greater sense of mission than I had five years ago. Originally, from a few months ago, I had been practicing with heavyweights, and I had heard from him that he could not fight unless he was injured every day.
It was injured in April, and it is presumed that the participation in the competition, which was not perfect, had a great sense of crisis in the judo world, where the competition population is declining.
A few days later, Ohno wrote on Twitter.
“I think this will be the last all-Japan championship in Judo life, the match at Nippon Budokan. It was a head-to-head game and I enjoyed it. I like the atmosphere, cheers and applause unique to the all-Japan championship. I’m old enough to say, but I want to do my best again. “
I wanted you to win. It doesn’t change.
However, what Ohno felt on the tatami mat was probably something more than that. The fact that a man once said he couldn’t understand the feeling of “fun”. He shouldn’t be able to give a straightforward answer to what he sees in this defeat.
Shohei Ono working on stairs dash at Judo All Japan Men’s Training Camp on May 3, 2010
It is not clear whether it will head for the Paris Olympics, which will take three consecutive victories. However, because Ohno is the signboard of the competition that has been obliged to win the most in Japanese sports, there is a world that can be seen, and there is no end to what to see beyond that. What you “want to express” should become apparent there.
“It’s really selfish.” Yes, it may be switched.
However, I have no intention of quitting to keep chasing. Whether or not there is a stage in Paris, a man, 30 years old, what will he embody as a way of life?
