Ryoko Tani
Five Olympics, five medals, seven world titles
- Born
- September 6, 1975, Fukuoka, Japan
- Nationality
Japan- Height
- 146 cm (4′9″)
- Stance
- Right
- Style
- Explosive lightweight technician
- Weight
- 48 kg
- Active
- 1990–2010
- Status
- Retired · age 51
The record
84-match win streakWon 84 straight matches between the 1992 and 1996 Olympics; the IJF says she was unbeaten in major competitions from Atlanta 1996 to Beijing 2008.
5 Olympic medals (2 gold), 7 world titles
The story
yoko Tamura, later Tani, stood 1.46 m and never had to cut weight for the 48 kg class she ruled for almost two decades. She won world bronze at 15 and reached the Olympic final at 16, losing to France's Cécile Nowak in Barcelona. An 84-match winning run followed, only for North Korea's Kye Sun-hui to upset her in the 1996 final. She finally won Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000 with an uchi mata ippon and defended it in Athens, the first woman to win two Olympic judo titles. She won seven world titles, the last in 2007 after the birth of her first child, and took a medal at five straight Games. Japan knew her as Yawara-chan, and she later served in the national parliament.
- Olympic champion, 48 kg (2000, 2004)
- World champion, 48 kg (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007)
- Asian Games champion, 48 kg (1994)
- Fukuoka International champion (13 years running)
- IJF Hall of Fame (2013)
- Named best female judoka ever by the IJF (2011)
Defining matches
- 1992LOSSvs Cécile Nowak (Barcelona Olympic final, aged 16)
- 1996LOSSvs Kye Sun-hui (Atlanta Olympic final upset)
- 2000WINvs Lyubov Bruletova (Sydney Olympic final, uchi mata ippon)
- 2004WINvs Frédérique Jossinet (Athens Olympic final)
Tani won on speed of entry and grip timing more than strength: take your grip and attack in the same beat, before the opponent settles theirs. Drill seoi nage and uchi mata straight off the first grip exchange.
