was a Japanese

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 two consecutive gold medals at the Olympic games.Hitoshi Saito
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Biography

Saito began judo in junior high school, and in 1974, he was scouted to transfer to the Kokushikan Junior High School, located in

Setagaya, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. The ward calls itself Setagaya City in English. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orch ...

. He continued to practice judo at the Kokushikan high school, and won the inter-high school judo group competition during his junior year. He entered

Kokushikan University is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. Combined teams of the Graduate School of Engineering and the Department of Science and Engineering competed against 130 team and came in 11th place in the 27th Formula SAE in 2007. This is the ...

in 1979, and faced

Yasuhiro Yamashita is a Japanese judoka. He currently works as an instructor or advisor for numerous organizations, including Tokai University, the International Judo Federation, and thAll Japan Judo Federation He retired from competitive judo on June 17, 1985 a ...

a total of 7 times in the finals of the

All-Japan Judo Championships is a judo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held in Nippon Budokan on 29 April and the women's tournament (dubbed "Empress cup All-Japan women's Judo championships") is held in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in April. T ...

, Jigoro Kano Cup, and All-Japan University Judo Championships. He lost to Yamashita in each tournament final, but drew with him several times during other matches. Saito continued to work at Kokushikan University after graduating in 1983, and won the gold medal in the heavyweight (+95 kg) division of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

and in the open weight division of the

1983 World Judo Championships The 1983 World Judo Championships were the 13th edition of the Men's World Judo Championships, and were held in Moscow, Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former tr ...

. In the

1985 World Judo Championships The 1985 World Judo Championships were the 14th edition of the World Judo Championships, and were held in Seoul, South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of ...

, he faced

Cho Yong-Chul Cho Yong-Chul (born 7 May 1961) is a South Korean judoka. At the 1985 World Judo Championships in Seoul, Cho won a gold medal, beating double Olympic champion Hitoshi Saito was a Japanese judoka who won two consecutive gold medals at t ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and was forced to retire from the match after his arm was dislocated by a standing armlock applied by Cho. He also injured his right knee prior to the All-Japan Championships in 1987, but made his return at the 1988 All-Japan Championships, winning the championship for the first time to gain his second trip to the Olympic games. Saito faced

again in the semi-finals of the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, competing under tremendous pressure after every other Japanese judoka in the 1988 Olympics had been defeated before reaching the finals. He defeated Cho by decision, and won the final against

Henry Stöhr Henry Stöhr (born 6 June 1960) is an East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its d ...

to capture his second Olympic gold medal. Saito retired from competition shortly after his second Olympics as an athlete and became an instructor for Kokushikan University and the All Japan Judo Federation. He also served as a coach for the Japanese judo team during 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 also on friendly terms with his former great rival,

. Yamashita was the only judoka who was able to defeat Saito. Saito is the father of

2022 World Judo Championships The 2022 World Judo Championships was held at the Humo Ice Dome in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from 6 to 13 October 2022, concluding with the mixed team event on its final day. Scheduling The competition was originally scheduled to take place from ...

silver medalist and 2022 All-Japan open weight champion, Tatsuru Saito. He died aged 54 from cholangiocarcinoma, a rare but rapidly progressing and incurable form of liver cancer. After his death Saito was promoted by the Kodokan to 9th

dan rank The ranking system is used by many Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, and other martial art organizations to indicate the level of a person's ability within a given system. Used as a ranking system to quantify skill level in a specific domain, it was ...

in judo and was also awarded the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

, Gold Rays with Rosette by the Japanese Emperor.http://www.judo.or.jp/english/p/31818l

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saito, Hitoshi 1961 births 2015 deaths Japanese male judoka Olympic judoka for Japan Judoka at the 1984 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Japan People from Aomori (city) Olympic medalists in judo Asian Games medalists in judo World judo champions Judoka at the 1986 Asian Games Deaths from cholangiocarcinoma Deaths from cancer in Japan Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1986 Asian Games 20th-century Japanese people 21st-century Japanese people