is a Japanese

judo 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"). ...

ka. He won the Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight (+100 kg) division in 2004. He is also a two-time world champion. He is noted for being a remarkably small judoka in the heavyweight division; he also regularly competed in the light-heavyweight (-100 kg) class. Suzuki is known as having some of the best ashi waza of all heavyweights. Suzuki was eliminated in the first round of the 2010 world Judo championship in Yoyogi, Japan, via

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In Judo In Judo, an ippon may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the four ...

Janusz Wojnarowicz Janusz Wojnarowicz (born 14 April 1980 in Tychy) is former Polish judoka and an american football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by t ...

of Poland. Kyodo News, "Ex-champ Suzuki falls at first hurdle", '' Japan Times'', 10 September 2010, p. 11. Suzuki dislocated his shoulder in the semi-finals of the 2012

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 ...

and subsequently announced his retirement as he was not selected to represent Japan at the

London 2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Suzuki was appointed Men's Heavyweight Coach for the Japanese team by the new head coach, his friend and former rival Kosei Inoue.

References

External links

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Competition videos of Keiji Suzuki
at Judovision 1980 births Living people Japanese male judoka Judoka at the 2004 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in judo Asian Games medalists in judo World judo champions Judoka at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Universiade medalists in judo Universiade gold medalists for Japan Sportspeople from Ibaraki Prefecture {{Japan-judo-bio-stub