Elco van der Geest (born 4 May 1979 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 ...

) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

-born

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

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"). ...

. Throughout his career, Elco had competed for the Netherlands. In August 2009, Elco accepted the request to join the Belgian team. He achieved Belgian citizenship right before the 2009 World Judo Championships in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. He is the son of coach Cor van der Geest and a younger brother of

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

who is also a judoka competing on the highest level. According to

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

's World Ranking List, as of June 2010, Elco van der Geest is rank at the number-two spot under

Takamasa Anai is a Japanese judoka. He began judo at the age of 5. He is Coached by former world champion and olympic silver medalist Shinichi Shinohara. He won the All-Japan Championships and took the bronze medal at the World Championships in 2009. H ...

of Japan. He has twice competed at the Olympics, once for the Netherlands in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

losing to

Ihar Makarau Ihar Viktaravich Makarau ( be, Ігар Віктаравіч Макараў; born 20 July 1979 in Kimry, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union), also commonly known by the Russian spelling Igor Viktorovich Makarov (russian: И́горь Ви́кторов ...

in the semi-finals, and then to

Ariel Zeevi Ariel "Arik" Ze'evi ( he, אריאל "אריק" זאבי, born 16 January 1977) is a retired Israeli dan 6 black belt in Judo. He had a long and successful career competing in half-heavyweight Judo competitions. He is an Olympic bronze medal fina ...

in the bronze medal match, and then in 2012 where he lost to eventual gold medalist

Tagir Khaibulaev Tagir Kamaludinovich Khaybulaev (russian: Тагир Камалудинович Хайбуллаев, av, ТIагьир ХIайбулаев) (born 24 July 1984 in Kizilyurt, Dagestan, Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Uni ...

in the first round.

Achievements

References

External links

* *
Videos of Elco van der Geest
(judovision.org)
Dutch Olympic Committee
1979 births Living people Dutch male judoka van der Geest Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics van der Geest Olympic judoka of the Netherlands Sportspeople from Haarlem {{Belgium-judo-bio-stub