Surprises in martial arts make it so addictive to watch

The beauty of martial arts is that anything can happen in a split second. If you don’t watch it can be over any time and athletes know, but the combination of skills makes it so exciting to watch martial arts. We know this with some of the devastating throws in judo like Sode Tsuri Goshi, De Ashi Barai, drop seoi or excellent executed Hiza Guruma. In boxing it is not different with a huge punch they help their opponents to total destruction. In kickboxing or UFC a combination of hits or just one massive kick in the neck can be decisive for the total knock-out.

In martial arts, you never know the exact outcome and it’s hard to bet on round, the time, the way of the strike or any of the UFC fighting odds that are offered. One thing is for sure, that makes it so exciting to keep watching with the available broadcasts or streams. This is why martial arts such is judo keep us aligned when there’s judo on screen.

The current health crisis is at least good for the TV stations and rights holders of any sport that earned a place to be watched. That includes judo but we just need to present it a bit more sexy although from a competition point of view judo is the basis for a tree of possibilities in martial arts and an explosion of mixed martial arts competitions around the globe.

Olympic judo surprises

But also in judo it was not always easy to bet on the right winner. Especially when it comes to the Olympic Games it was not always clear who will become the surprise of the tournament.

It happened that complete unknowns ended up winning the gold medal. In fact it has happened in almost every Olympic Games since 1984. When Ahn Byeong Keun of South Korea, a virtual unknown, beat Italy’s Ezio Gamba in the U71kg final at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, it was quite a surprise. The odds in that time for a victory of Ahn was probably 1 out of 99. You’d get 99 USD for each one on Ahn. Gamba, of course, was the 1980 defending Olympic champion. But another guy who shocked the odds of the pundits and experts in 1984 was when Germany’s Frank Wieneke won gold medal 78kg in LA. Wieneke defeated Britain’s Neil Adams who was the favourite among the bookies. In that time a victory for dams would have award with 3 USD for each one on Adams. Wieneke placed a remarkable uchimata into drop seoi-nage combination for ippon. Still Wieneke is a legend in Germany and now he is a TV commentator himself by occasion and people listen with respect to his knowledgeable commentary.

Brazilian shockers

We all know some of the top athletes from Brazil, but in eighties in the past century that was completely different. We head heard of Brazil’s Aurelio Miguel was became the surprise winner of the U95kg category at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. He was a relative unknown but the manner in which he won made it all the more remarkable. He won the gold medal without scoring a single point – all his wins were by penalties. You could call him the original shido player. We wonder how he had performed in this time at the last Olympic games where he might have had a chance with so many penalties. Sometimes the history repeats itself.

Aurelio Miguel was practically unknown in 1988 for the bookies and wasn’t the only surprise of Brazil but a pioneer for his country in this already world wide sport. At the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 there was another Brazilian who provided a big upset. Think about 1984 when an unknown guy beat the current Olympic Champion, now it was Rogerio Sampaio was really not well-known but he managed to beat Germany’s Udo Quellmalz in the semifinal, and Hungary’s very experienced Jozsef Csak in the U65kg final. Four year’s later in Atlanta it was Quellmalz to become Olympic Champion in this category.

Kye beats Tamura in 1996

Of course the men have a longer track record in Olympic judo than the men. In fact the women started in 1988 as a demonstration sport and was included officially in Barcelona 1992. And also in women’s judo there were a few major surprises such as in the lightweight category where Japan’s prodigy Ryoko Tamura was the tiny little woman to beat. Who would have thought that in the final a complete unknown, Kye Sun-Hui of North Korea was competing in her very first international event, defeated Tamura. A complete surprise as in fact, Kye had only qualified for the Olympics through a wild-card and had no chance according to the bookmakers. Against Tamura you would win the jackpot for each dollar on Kye. Yet, not only did this 16-year-old manage to defeat Japan’s prodigy, and she made it look easy. Kye would, in later years, go on to win four world titles as well as an Olympic silver and bronze and became the frontrunner of later north Korean success at the Games.

Ilias Iliadis always stunted

Older judo fans will for sure remember well the Athens Olympic Games where Nomura won his unique triple but a few days later the surprise trend resumed with Ilias Iiadis, then still a teenager of just 18 years young who won the gold medal for his home country Greece, while the young man came from Georgia a few years ago and was adapted by his passionate father Nikos. With his natural father on the tribune this day turned into one of the major upsets of the Olympic history. Although Ilias has been European Champion when he was just 17 years young a few months before his Olympic stunt as the bookies didn't count him in for the victory. At least Iliadis was European Champion and he could reach the top 3, but took gold.

Next year Ilias Iliadis will be watch when the IJF World Judo Tour has its main event in his new country: Uzbekistan for the World Championships…. With or without home crowd. Can coach Ilias now create more surprises in 2022?

Aurélio Miguel was 1988 Olympic Champion in Seoul and bronze medallist in 1996 in Atlanta. He won three World Championships medals and was 1983 junior World Champion. He won many Pan American titles in 1982/85/86/88/92/96/97. He is the first ever Brazilian Olympic champion. 

The North Korean phenomenon Kye Sun-Hui was triple World Champion and Triple Olympic medallist 1996-2004. In Atlanta 1996 she defeated Ryoko Tamura. Won six World Championships medals and starred at four Olympic Games until 2008. Kye was inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame in 2018.

Korean judoka Byeong-Keun Ahn was 1984 Olympic Champion of Los Angeles U71kg. One year later he also won the world title in 1985. He won the Asian Games in Seoul in 1986 U71kg. He was also an IJF referee for instance at the Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2013.

Frank Wieneke is 1984 Olympic Champion and silver medallist at the 1988 Olympics. In 1986 he was European Champion and won 4 European medals. As a coach he was successful and won again an Olympic title.