David Rudman
King of the ground fight who built Sambo-70
- Born
- April 13, 1943, Kuybyshev (now Samara), Russia
- Died
- February 8, 2022 (aged 78)
- Nationality
- Soviet Union
- Style
- Ground-fighting specialist
- Weight
- 68 kg, 70 kg
- Active
- 1965–1974
The medals
1973 world sambo title at 68 kg; in judo, 1969 European champion and world bronze medallist at 70 kg
The story
avid Rudman, born in Kuybyshev (now Samara) in 1943, was one of sambo's great champions and one of its most important teachers. He won six Soviet sambo titles and, in 1967, the first international sambo tournament at 70 kg. Like many Soviet sambists he also fought in judo, winning the 1969 European title at 70 kg and a world bronze that year. At the first World Sambo Championships, in Tehran in 1973, he took gold at 68 kg. In 1970 he started a sambo class at a Moscow school that grew into Sambo-70, which FIAS calls a forge of top-level sambists. FIAS called him the king of the ground fight, and he wrote a shelf of books on the art, including two volumes of 1,000 submissions. He led FIAS from 2005 to 2009 and died in 2022.
- World sambo champion, 68 kg (1973, the first World Championships)
- USSR sambo champion (6 times)
- Winner of the first international sambo tournament, 70 kg (1967)
- European judo champion, 70 kg (1969); world judo bronze medallist (1969)
- Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR (1970)
- Honoured Coach of the USSR
- FIAS president (2005–2009), then honorary president
Defining matches
- 1967Winner first international sambo tournament (70 kg)
- 1969Gold European Judo Championships, Ostend (70 kg; Antoni Zajkowski of Poland took silver)
- 1969Bronze World Judo Championships, Mexico City (70 kg; Hiroshi Minatoya won)
- 1973Gold World Sambo Championships, Tehran (68 kg, at the first World Championships)
Treat the ground as a place to finish, not to rest: from a throw or takedown, go straight to a hold and then to an arm or leg lock before your partner can settle. Rudman, sambo's king of the ground fight, wrote two volumes on 1,000 submissions.
