Irina Rodina
Told wrestling was unfeminine, she won eleven world titles
- Born
- July 23, 1973, Tula, Russia
- Nationality
Russia- Style
- Tactical heavyweight thrower
- Weight
- +80 kg
- Active
- 1992–2013
- Status
- Retired · age 53
The medals
11 world titles at +80 kg (1997–2010) and a 2007 bronze; also 1999 European judo champion
The story
rina Rodina walked into a judo class in Tula in 1987, aged 13, against her parents' wishes; according to FIAS she ran away from home to fight in her first competition. She moved to Perm in 1998 and became the dominant heavyweight in women's sambo, winning 11 world titles in the over-80 kg class between 1997 and 2010, plus a bronze in 2007, and several European titles. In judo she was European heavyweight champion in 1999 and finished seventh at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. In 1996 she went to Japan for one of the first women's no-holds-barred tournaments and won three bouts by armbar. Rodina called sambo an intellectual sport, won by feeling an opponent's next move rather than by strength. In 2013 she became senior coach of Russia's under-18 girls' judo team.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- World champion, +80 kg (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010)
- European sambo champion (1998, 2004, 2007, 2008)
- European judo champion, +78 kg (1999)
- Judo Olympian, Sydney 2000 (+78 kg, 7th)
- FIAS Hall of Fame video tribute (2019)
- Honoured Master of Sports of Russia (sambo, 2000)
- Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class (2002)
- Order of Friendship (2013)
- Golden Belt national award (2006)
Defining matches
- 1997Gold World Championships (+80 kg, first of 11 world titles; Veronika Kozlovskaya took silver)
- 1996WINvs Yumiko Hotta (MMA, armbar in round 1; final of a women's tournament in Japan)
- 2006WINvs Yuliya Barysik (World Championships +80 kg final, Sofia)
- 2010WINvs Iryna Iadkouskaya (World Championships +80 kg final, Tashkent; 11th world title)
- 2000LOSSvs Erin Toughill (MMA, split decision, ReMix World Cup in Japan)
Throw with your partner's movement, not against it: when they step or push, time a heel trip or a twisting throw in the direction they are already going. Rodina said her best throws came from feeling the other person's next action, not from strength.
