Dennis van der Geest (; born 27 June 1975) is a Dutch

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

, who won the bronze medal in the men's heavyweight (+ 100 kg) division at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. He was born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. In 2005, he became the world judo champion in the men's open division by defeating Russian

Tamerlan Tmenov Tamerlan Ruslanovich Tmenov (russian: Тамерлан Русланович Тменов; born 27 July 1977) is a Russian judoka. He is a 2004 Olympic silver medalist, 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, and seven-time European Champion from 1998 ...

with ippon in the final. In 2000 and 2002, he became European Champion in the over 100 kg event. He won three bronze medals and one silver medal at previous world championships. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, Van der Geest was eliminated in the first round by Tamerlan Tmenov. He sustained a minor fracture during the match when Tmenov fell on his arm, but he was able to finish the fight. Van der Geest planned to finish his Judo career after the 2008 Summer Olympics to pursue a career in the music industry, but after his unexpected defeat, he was quoted as considering entering the World Championship in 2009. However, on 7 May 2009 Dennis van der Geest announced his retirement from top sport, owing to his lack of motivation. Outside his sport he was the ambassador of his favourite football team

Feyenoord Rotterdam Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after it ...

in the 2005/06 season. Next to that, he released his first single, "To The Sunshine", on 8 August 2008. This track was released under his stage name of Ippon, and is a collaboration with producer

Ronald Molendijk Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'',#H2, Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; #H1, Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English ''Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised ...

. His younger brother Elco is also a judoka competing at the highest level. In 2011 and 2013 he appeared in episodes of the television game show ''

De Jongens tegen de Meisjes ''De Jongens tegen de Meisjes'' (Dutch for ''The Boys versus the Girls'') was a Dutch game show broadcast by RTL 4. The show first aired in 2011 and last aired in 2018. The show featured a male and a female team participating in various games an ...

''. In 2019 he played a role in the film '' Brugklas: De tijd van m'n leven''.

External links

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Videos of Dennis van der Geest
on Judovision.org 1975 births Living people Dutch male judoka Judoka at the 2000 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic judoka of the Netherlands Olympic medalists in judo Sportspeople from Haarlem World judo champions Universiade medalists in judo Universiade silver medalists for the Netherlands Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch people {{Netherlands-Olympic-medalist-stub