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 shi ...

) is a retired Dutch

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") ...

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 Mark Huizinga (born 10 September 1973) is a Dutch judoka and Olympic champion. Huizinga was born in Vlaardingen, South Holland in Netherlands in 1973. He won the gold medal in the men's under 90 kg class at the 2000 Summer Olympics by ...

, 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, in Lisbon, Portugal, from April 11 to April 13, 2008. Medal overview Men Women Medal table Results o ...

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 Askhat Rasulovich Zhitkeyev ( kk, Asqat Rasulūly Jıtkeev, born 13 April 1981) is a Kazakh judoka. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in the 90–100 kg division and a bronze medal at the 2001 world judo championships in the -100&n ...

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 Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

. He went on to win bronze beating Levan Zhorzholiani 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 t ...

. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals, where he lost to

Dimitri Peters Dimitri Peters (born 4 May 1984 in Gljaden, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a German judoka. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he lost to gold medallist Tagir Khaibulaev at the semi-final stage, and then won through the repechage, beating Ramziddin S ...

of Germany. Grol went on to win the bronze medal beating

Hwang Hee-tae Hwang Hee-Tae (born June 12, 1978 in Sinan County, Jeollanam-do) is a male South Korean Judoka. He won a gold medal in the men's -90 kg division at the 2003 World Judo Championships in Osaka, Japan, by defeating the 2004 Olympic champion ...

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 G ...

where he ended third. In 2021, he won one of the bronze medals in his event at the

2021 Judo World Masters The 2021 Judo World Masters was held in Doha, Qatar, from 11 to 13 January 2021. Medal summary Medal table Source Men's events Source Women's events Source Prize money The sums written are per medalist, and with the two additional best ...

held in Doha, Qatar.

Outside of Judo

After the

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

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 strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

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 m ...

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 ...

. 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