DOB - 6 September 1975
COUNTRY - Japan
WEIGHT - U48kg

Favourite techniques

Osoto-gari
Uchimata
Seoi-otoshi
Uchimata sukashi
Ouchi-gari
de-ashi-barai
Morote-seoi-nage
Yoko-shio-gatame

Ryoko Tani, originally Ryoko Tamura before her marriage to baseball star Yoshitomo Tani in 2003, is the planet’s most famous Judoka. Called ‘yawara’ after a cartoon character modelled on her, she is mobbed everywhere she goes in Japan and the chants of her travelling army of fans has been deafening in four Olympic finals. What’s more, she deserves her fame. She has won an incredible five Olympic medals, 2 gold, 2 Silver and one bronze and is a seven time World champion.

Inspired by the British fighter Karen Briggs, Tamura first fought her at the 1990 Fukuoka cup and announced her arrival as a world talent by beating Briggs with two Waza-aris. The next year at the World Championships they met again, this time with Briggs turning the tables to hold Tamura for the ippon win, Tamura had to settle for bronze. The following year again, Tamura fought Briggs for the last time in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Olympics. This time she kept the fight off the ground. With Briggs dislocating her shoulder and eventually being disqualified for passivity, Tamura went on to lose narrowly in the final against France’s Cecile Nowak.

By the time of the next Olympics in Atlanta, Tamura had established herself as number one in the World. She had won two World titles, displaying superb technique in the process, and, had earned a reputation as a fighter that would never give up. In the final of the 1995 World Championships, she produced a superb Morote-gari ippon in the very last second of the final against her Chinese opponent. Her classical judo was exceptional, from right handed Uchimata and Osoto-gari to strong Osaekomi-waza on the ground. Red-hot favourite for the Olympic title, she carried Japan’s flag with pride at the opening ceremony.

She blitzed her way to the final, throwing everyone for ippon. In the final, however, she met her match in the form of the 16 year old North Korean Sun Hyui Kye, who refused to be overawed by the occasion and withstood everything Tamura threw at her. With thirty seconds to go, Tamura overstretched with an Osoto attack and was countered for a koka, enough to deny her the gold.

A four year unbeaten run and two more World titles followed, now only the Olympic title eluded her. She went to Sydney knowing only gold would do. The atmosphere in the arena at Darling harbour was unbelievable; it was as if the whole of Japan had come to see her! Truth be told, her form was not as sparkling as in Atlanta four years earlier. She struggled in a yuko win over Zhao of China, but produced a beautiful O-guruma ippon on Lusnikova of the Ukraine to reach the semi-final. There, with a foreboding sense of déjà vu, she faced another young North Korean, Hyong-hyang Cha. However, she kept her cool and won a decision to earn a place in the final against Russia’s Lioubov Brouletova.

As she stepped out for the final, a sea of Japanese flags and a wall of noise let her opponent know she would have to beat the crowd as well as Tamura to take gold. The final did not last long; Tamura chose her moment perfectly as she darted underneath the Russian to take her over for a perfect Uchimata ippon. It was third time lucky for Tamura! When asked what it was like to have finally taken gold she said, ‘It’s like meeting your first love again, after 80 years away.’

Tamura, who became Tani in 2003, went on to add a further two world titles in 2001 and 2003, bringing her tally to 6, and also successfully defended her Olympic title when she beat Frederique Jossinet of France in the final in Athens. In 2007, having missed the World Championships in 2005, she set her sights on winning a record seventh World title in Rio de Janeiro. And, in true Tani fashion, she did not disappoint, beating Cuba’s Janet Bermoy to take gold and break a judo record in the process. The next year she travelled to Beijing with the goal of becoming three time Olympic champion. Unfortunately for Tani, she lost out in the semi-final to the eventual winner, Alina Dumitru of Romania, on a last minute penalty. Still, she produced another spectacular throw in the bronze medal contest to level Bogdanova of Russia and take bronze, an incredible fifth Olympic medal. And with such an incredible record, no one can argue that Tani is not the greatest female judoka of all time.