Otti Roethof (born ca. 1950) is a former Dutch

karateka (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

. Roethof was born on

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

and moved with his family to

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

at the age of 10.Otti Roethof nog altijd succesvol
, at Radio Nederland Wereldomroep Suriname, 5 July 2007 (in Dutch) In the early 70s he moved to the Netherlands, where he lived in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Between 1977 and 1984 he won multiple Karate medals at the

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

World Karate Championships The Karate World Championships, also known as the World Karate Championships, are the highest level of competition for karate organized by the World Karate Federation (WKF). The competition is held in a different city every two years. Championshi ...

. In 1977 in Tokyo he became the first non-Japanese world champion.Otti Roethof rustig op weg naar twee wereldtitels
Leidse Courant, 22 November 1980. (in Dutch) In 1984 he published the book ''Karate: een handboek voor trainer, coach en karateka'' (). In 1985 he became coach of the Dutch national karate team. At his last world championships in 1986 he comes in fourth.Dossier Otti Roethof
limburger.nl. 13 April 2010 Roethof ran several sport schools and owned a sports retail shop in the 1990s.

References

1950 births Living people Dutch male karateka Karate coaches Dutch people of Curaçao descent Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Wadō-ryū practitioners World Games bronze medalists Competitors at the 1981 World Games 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch people {{Netherlands-karate-bio-stub