Despite there being new people on the podium it was as a result of them displaying a high level of judo. We saw many nice techniques and a lot of action in the heavyweight categories today.
There were many ippons with a low amount of shidos and for me that helped to make today the best day of the competition.
Ura-nage was used effectively and I saw a lot of ne-waza such as in the +100kg final.
I like the current system with golden score, fighting until there is a score. The encourages judoka to be positive and adds to the excitement.
The pace is much faster now then when I used to fight and that’s been helped because of rules and contests only lasting for four minutes.
I feel that judo is better to watch in the present day with more action.
I liked the Australian -100kg competitor, Kayhan OZCICEK-TAKAGI, he impressed me by his work ethic and I’m sure that he’ll win a gold on the circuit soon.
Ireland’s Ben FLETCHER has always made vast improvements and he’s a talented fighter. He’s getting stronger and he’s dangerous in both tachi-waza and ne-waza.
In this event, the female heavyweights surprised me with many big throws and their positive attitude especially in the final block. It was a good advert for the +78kg category and the spectators really enjoyed it.
Hungarian heavyweight Imre Csösz won Olympic bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He won the European Championships in 1995 in Birmingham, England and now works as a Sport Commissioner for the International Judo Federation.