Hindrik Harmannus Arnoldus "Henk" Grol (born 14 April 1985 in

Veendam Veendam () is a town and municipality with a population of 27,752 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Veendam was established in 1648 as a peat colony by Adriaan Geerts Wildervanck. A Holland America Line cruise ship ...

) is a retired

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 ...

judoka.

Judo career

Grol competed in the

2007 European Judo Championships The 2007 European Judo Championships were the 18th edition of the European Judo Championships, and were held in Belgrade, Serbia from 6 April to 8 April 2007. Medal overview Men Women Medal table Results overview Men 60 kg 66 kg ...

in Belgrade, Serbia in the men's under 90 kg, as a replacement for Mark Huizinga, who cancelled last minute due to personal problems. He won gold in the men's under 100-kilo class at the

2008 European Judo Championships The 2008 European Judo Championships were the nineteenth edition of the European Judo Championships, held in the Altice Arena Altice Arena (formerly MEO Arena; also referred to by its original name, Pavilhão Atlântico) is a multi-purpose i ...

in Lisbon, Portugal. He was the youngest European Champion of that year, only 22 years old. After a highly competitive race against Elco van der Geest, Grol ended up to be the 2008 representative for the men's 100 kg category for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. There he reached the semifinals, where he was beaten by Askhat Zhitkeyev from

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. He went on to win bronze beating

Levan Zhorzholiani Levan Zhorzholiani (born 20 January 1988) is a Georgian 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 ...

from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals, where he lost to Dimitri Peters of Germany. Grol went on to win the bronze medal beating Hwang Hee-tae in his bronze medal match. He competed at the

2018 European Judo Championships The 2018 European Judo Championships were held in Tel Aviv, Israel from 26 to 28 April 2018. Medal overview Men Women Medal table Participating nations There was a total of 368 participants from 44 nations. References Exte ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

where he ended third. In 2021, he won one of the bronze medals in his event at the 2021 Judo World Masters held in Doha, Qatar.

Outside of Judo

After the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

he considered starting a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

career and trained with

Gegard Mousasi Gegard Mousasi (born 1 August 1985), is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer, currently competing in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Middleweight Champion. As of December 13, 2022, he is #10 in the Bellator me ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. Eventually he decided to quit training MMA due to safety considerations.

References

External links

* 1985 births Living people Dutch male judoka European Games gold medalists for the Netherlands European Games medalists in judo Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2015 European Games Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic judoka of the Netherlands Olympic medalists in judo People from Veendam Judoka at the 2019 European Games European Games bronze medalists for the Netherlands Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch people Sportspeople from Groningen (province) {{Netherlands-judo-bio-stub