Keiji Suzuki (鈴木桂治, Suzuki Keiji, born 3 June 1980 in Jōsō, Ibaraki)[2] is a Japanese judoka.
Suzuki won the Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight (+100 kg) division in 2004. He is also a two-time world champion.
Suzuki is noted for being a remarkably small judoka in the heavyweight division; he also regularly competed in the light-heavyweight (–100 kg) class.
Suzuki is known as having some of the best Ashi-waza of all heavyweights.
Suzuki was eliminated in the first round of the +100 kg event at the 2010 World Championships in Yoyogi, Japan, via ippon by Janusz Wojnarowicz of Poland.[3]
Suzuki dislocated his shoulder in the semi-finals of the 2012 All-Japan Judo Championships and subsequently announced his retirement as he was not selected to represent Japan at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Suzuki was appointed Men's Heavyweight Coach for the Japanese team by the new head coach, his friend and former rival Kosei Inoue.
References
[edit]- ^ "IJF Dan Grades Awardees" (PDF). International Judo Federation. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Keiji Suzuki". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
- ^ Kyodo News, "Ex-champ Suzuki falls at first hurdle", Japan Times, 10 September 2010, p. 11.
External links
[edit]Media related to Keiji Suzuki at Wikimedia Commons
- Keiji Suzuki at the International Judo Federation
- Keiji Suzuki at JudoInside.com
- Keiji Suzuki at AllJudo.net (in French)
- Keiji Suzuki at Olympics.com
- Keiji Suzuki at Olympedia
- Keiji Suzuki at The-Sports.org
- Keiji Suzuki on X
- Competition videos of Keiji Suzuki at Judovision