50 Great Judo Champions celebrates these outstanding individuals whose talent, ambitions, determination and courage drove them to produce their best at the moments of highest tension.

Each champion has a dedicated section containing key biographic material - their background, their major competition successes, and their favourite techniques. There is also an extended essay on their personalities and principal victories in competition.

Among them are the biographies of the two greatest heavyweights - Yasuhiro Yamashita, champion of the 1970's/1980's and David Douillet, champion of the 90's. As well as Karen Briggs and Ryoko Tamura, two of the greatest women fighters of the 1980's/1990's in Judo's lightest category.

And each of these champions is illustrated by a series of outstanding pictures from the archives of specialist Judo photographers David Finch and Bob Willingham.

50 Great Judo Champions celebrates the founding of the International Judo Federation in 1951. Although there were international matches before then, and Judo had already spread throughout the World, that date sets the official seal on international Judo. The first European championships were held in Paris in 1951. The World Championships followed in 1956. The Asian Games, the Pan-American Games and the Oceana Games took their regular place in the international competition calendar. And in 1964 judo was seen in the Olympic Games for the first time.

From its beginnings in a small Buddhist temple in 1882, judo is now truly international. Competition, and the champions it produced, have played a significant role in achieving this. Here, in this exciting volume of words and pictures, are 50 of the greatest.

ISBN: 1 8745729 1 7