DOB - 10 December 1974
COUNTRY - Japan
WEIGHT - U60kg

Tadahiro Nomura is one of the most successful judoka of all time and is the only judoka to have one three Olympic gold medals. The nephew of 1972 Olympic Champion, Toyakazu Nomura, Tadahiro was the surprise Japanese entry for the Atlanta games in 1996. In spite of this, his performance there was absolutely breathtaking. A fully committed left hander; he threw caution to the wind and hit his opposition with everything.

As a new fighter, Nomura was unseeded and so the most exciting fight of the day, against the reigning World Champion, Oyegin of Russia, happened in round 2. It was a clash of styles, classical Japanese against unorthodox Russian. At first there was nothing between them, but then the Russian whipped Nomura over for a yuko with drop-seoi-nage. More drama followed as Oyegin dropped to his knees and powered up onto his feet with Nomura on his back in Kata-guruma. However, as Oyegin unloaded, Nomura twisted and with amazing agility, managed to keep the score down to a yuko. With seconds to go it looked like Nomura was heading for an early exit but, with a one handed grip, he spun under Oyegin with a rolling Sode tsurikomi goshi for waza-ari, and what proved to be the winning score.

Nomura continued to live dangerously and was losing again to Girolamo Giovinazzo of Italy in the final, when he disappeared between the Italian’s legs using only the ends of his sleeves to whip him onto his back for ippon. Overnight Nomura had become a superstar.

A year later at the Paris World Championships, Nomura was the favourite, the man to beat, and demolished everyone, throwing George Revazishvilli (GEO) with a beautiful drop seoi to take the title. But a threat to his supremacy had developed in Japan, in the form of the diminutive Kazuhiko Tokuno and it was he, not Nomura, who took the 1999 world slot. Tokuno made it to the final, but was thrown for ippon by the Cuban fighter Manolo Poulot.

When Nomura was selected for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he was again, incredibly, an unseeded fighter! Nomura now became the most dangerous floating fighter possible and unfortunately was drawn on the same side of the table as World Champion Poulot. They met in the semi-final in the match that should have been the final, between the reigning World Champion and the reigning Olympic Champion. It was extremely close, both took small scores, but in the end Nomura’s yuko was better than Poulot’s koka. Nomura was into his second Olympic final.

The Japanese fans were still celebrating Ryoko Tamura’s spectacular victory in the under 48 kilo category when Nomura stepped onto the mat. Then the chants changed from ‘Tamura! Tamura!’ to, ‘Nomura! Nomura!’ The fighters bowed, gripped, skipped to the edge and Nomura attacked. The Korean spun through the air, momentarily bridging as he twisted onto his front. The referee’s arm shot up into the air as he called ‘ippon’ and Nomura was Olympic champion again. It had taken just 14 seconds! This victory made him the only lightweight fighter to have won two Olympic titles.

After Sydney, Nomura disappeared for nearly three years, but was back to represent Japan at the 2003 World Championships in Osaka. Against the reigning World Champion, Anis Lounifi (TUN), Nomura was robbed of victory. Despite appearing to have thrown Lounifi several times, the Tunisian somehow stayed in the contest long enough to catch Nomura in a hold and shatter his dreams of winning a second World title in front of his home fans. Despite this bitter disappointment, Nomura stormed through the repechage, eventually throwing Gussenberg, of Germany, for ippon to take the bronze medal and, more importantly for Nomura, qualify his place at the Athens Olympics.

In Athens, Nomura looked back to his old self as he stormed into the final against Georgia’s Nestor Khergiani. There he fought a tactical match, outgripping Khergiani into conceding penalties to take a record third Olympic gold, making him the most successful Olympic judoka of all time.

After Athens, Nomura once again disappeared for two years but returned in 2006 and announced his intention to compete in Beijing, his fourth Olympics. However, after losing in the semi-finals of the national selections, Nomura failed to qualify a place at the games. After recently undergoing knee surgery, Nomura has announced his intention to fight at the Olympics once again in 2012. Only time will tell if he can overcome the hurdles once more and become Olympic Champion for a fourth time, but whatever happens he will always be remembered as one of judo’s all time legends.