Ryoko Tani: Smallest Fighter, Biggest Legacy
Ryoko Tani is among the best ever fighters in judo. Even as a lightweight, she was very small, standing at only 1.46m and reportedly never having to ever cut weight before a competition. This is exceedingly rare for international competitors, who often have to cut several kilograms just to make weight.
Tani burst onto the international scene with a bang, defeating the great Karen Briggs of Great Britain in the 1990 Fukuoka International Women’s Judo Championships, a tournament she would go on to win for 13 consecutive years (Briggs had previously won it five times, which in itself was already quite a record).
Her first World Championships was in 1991. There, Briggs would have her revenge and defeat her in the semifinal. In 1992, it would be Tani’s turn. The fierce rivals met in the semifinal and this time, youth won out over experience. Briggs would retire after this.
Tani won her first World title in 1993. More World titles would follow in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2007 (she did not compete in 2005 as she was pregnant with her first child that year). It seemed like winning the World title was child’s play for Tani.
Winning the Olympics was a bit harder for Tani. In 1992, she had lost to the experienced French player, Cecile Nowak, in the final. In 1996, it looked like it was her time to shine but as it turned out, she suffered a massive upset at the hands of an unknown, 16-year old North Korean named Kye Sun-hui, who probably didn’t even know who Tani was, and thus was unfazed by her fearsome reputation.
Though disappointed, Tani pushed on with her career and what a career she still had ahead of her. She would remain unbeaten for the next 12 years. She got her first Olympic gold at Sydney 2000, in a final against a Russian opponent that lasted little more than 30 seconds. The throw she used was uchimata, which was rather unusual for a player her height. She was short even by -48kg standards.
There was no stopping Tani and she would win her second Olympic title (the first female player to achieve that) at Athens 2004. Her hopes of a hat-trick in Beijing 2008, however, were dashed by Romania’s Alina Dumitru who was clearly hungrier and more aggressive. This ultimately led to Tani losing by penalties.
Although an Olympic bronze wasn’t the greatest ending for her story, in her 20 year journey, Tani won every major title there was to win for a female judo player. Remarkably, throughout her entire career, she had been defeated a total of only four times.
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