DOB - 20 May 1954
COUNTRY - Belgium
WEIGHT - U95kg & Open

Favourite Techniques

Morote-gari
Tsuri-goshi
Harai-goshi
Sukui-nage
Osaekomi-waza

Robert van der Walle, the Belgian champion, became something of a legend in his life time. His remarkable senior competitive career spanned nearly 20 years. Everyone facing him in the light heavyweight category knew that they were in a fight to the finish. And when van der Walle had done the job there, he simply put on a fresh Judogi and went into the open category, causing mayhem in much the same way. Some great judo champions are, at their hearts, judoka. Some are sportsmen, but Robert van der Walle was a fighter.

He fought in five Olympics and virtually every World and European Championships during that period. He won the Olympic -95kg title in 1980, the European Open title in 1985. In 1989, at the age of 35, he was still up there with the best, winning a bronze medal at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Van der Walle trained unremittingly. He was widely respected in Japan because of his tempestuous fighting style. He said once, ‘I always was a strong fighter. When I took grip, my opponent generally knew about it’. Yet although he was principally known for a strong Morote-gari, he was also a surprisingly technical fighter.

When van der wale was 19, and Silver medallist at the World Junior Championships, he entered the senior European Championships in London in 1974, and surprised everyone by beating Jean-Luc Rougé, the title holder at the time, in the first round. Van der Walle admits it was just a fight, with merely five years of junior judo behind him, all he could do was grab legs, grab arms, attack with this, with that, and generally stun the Frenchman into bewilderment. He went out in the next round but learned a valuable lesson.

Six years later at the Moscow Olympics,, van der Walle was in his prime. He had trained in Japan, had won European Bronze and Silver medals, and had refined his raw Morote-gari into a much deadlier weapon. He knew more precisely what to do with it, against left handers, for example, he developed a sweeping style, levelling his opponents sideways. But he also used his hip throws, Tsuri-goshi, Harai-goshi and Sukui-nage, to good effect.

Up until that point he had never beaten Tengiz Khouboulouri, the great Soviet champion. In the months before Moscow he had worked with a friend at the judo club in Namur, studying videos of Khouboulouri and their fights, looking for a weakness. The answer, they felt, was Sukui-nage. He did thousands of uchikomi against Khouboulouri grip. He even got friends to come up on him in the street and try to catch him by surprise with a Soviet style attack. When it came to the final in Moscow, and Khouboulouri got his grip and attacked with his Osoto-gari, van der Walle sure enough picked him up with Sukui-nage and added the extra sweep to nail the throw. ‘it looked like ippon, it felt like ippon, but only waza-ari was given,’ recalls van der Walle. Still it proved enough, with the further addition of a koka, to win the gold.

Van der walle had to dig deep in other ways as his career progressed. Four years later, at the Los Angeles Olympics, as strong as ever and very much the favourite, he was thrown for ippon in the first round by American Leo White; he was out of the event. His determined character would not allow him to disappear however, and another four years later, in Seoul, he was back and, though at the age of 34, was still a huge threat. He seemed to be on course for Gold again, until he was caught out by a clean foot sweep from German, Marc Meiling. Still, he returned in the repechage to win bronze, giving the world a lesson in character, pride and sheer grit and determination.

His success in his own category overshadowed the fact that he was one of the last great Open weight category fighters (a division which is now the preserve of true Heavyweights). He was often in the medals of the European open event. But some of his great battles were behind closed doors, on the mat at Tokai University. Van der Walle and Yamashita, good friends but fierce rivals, often fought each other to a standstill during the traditional three hour training sessions.