Keiji Suzuki

Keiji Suzuki (鈴木桂治, Suzuki Keiji, born June 3, 1980 in Jōsō, Ibaraki)[1] is a Japanese judoka.

Keiji Suzuki
Keiji (right) at final of All-Japan Judo Championships
Personal information
NationalityJapan
Born (1980-06-03) June 3, 1980
Jōsō, Ibaraki, Japan
Height1.84 m (6 ft 12 in)
Weight105 kg (231 lb; 16.5 st)
KumiteLeft
Dan6th
Alma materKokushikan University
PositionHeisei Kanzai
Coach(es)Koichi Iwabuchi
Hitoshi Saito

He won the Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight (+100 kg) division in the 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 competes 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 by Janusz Wojnarowicz of Poland.[2]

Suzuki dislocated his shoulder in the semi-finals of the 2012 All-Japan Judo Championships and subsequently announced his retirement as he was not selected to represent Japan at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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

References

  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Keiji Suzuki". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
  2. Kyodo News, "Ex-champ Suzuki falls at first hurdle", Japan Times, 10 September 2010, p. 11.



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