Saito, Hitoshi

Born in the north of Honshu Island in 1961. In 1967 he went to elementary school , where he began to practice judo. In 1973, while studying in high school, he won the summer games of the prefecture in heavyweight among high school students.

In 1976, after graduating from school, he was accepted to continue his studies at a youth school at Kokushikan University in the Setagaya district in Tokyo . There he continued his studies of judo at the University Judo Academy. During training, he invariably won victories in all competitions inside the Academy, in 1977 he won in interscholastic competitions.

In 1979, he entered the same university, the faculty of physical education, where he first met his eternal rival and subsequently friend Yasuhiro Yamashita . In his appearances at the Japanese championships, the Japanese student championships and the Jigoro Kano Cup, Hitoshi Saito met eight times with the invincible Yamashita (in official fights 528 wins and 16 defeats in his career, all defeats taking place between the ages of 16 and 19 ^[1] ) and lost all the fights, but still in other competitions he managed to draw meetings in a draw.

The first serious success came to the fighter in 1980, when Hitoshi Saito took third place in the Pacific Rim international tournament in Honolulu , and then in the same year victories went sequentially at the World Student Championship ( Wroclaw ), the US Open San Jose tournament ( San Jose , victories in the absolute category and the category of over 95 kilograms), Asian Championship. In 1981, the wrestler won the championship of Japan, and began to progress more and more, winning at competitions of various levels, including the world championship - however, if Yasuhiro Yamashita did not fight at the competitions or in his category.

Both judokas went to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles to perform in different categories. Hitoshi Saito fought in the category of over 95 kilograms . In his category, 16 judokas fought.

Competitions were conducted according to the version of the system with elimination after two defeats.

In this system, in the first round, for example: wrestler “A” wins over wrestler “B”, and wrestler “B” wins over wrestler “G”. In the second round, there are the winners “A” and “B”, while “A” wins the fight. In this case, “G” (as a loser to the loser) leaves the tournament, and “B” (as a loser to the loser) meets “C” in the so-called comforting battle and the loser also leaves the tournament. If the wrestler “A” continues to win the bouts, then “B” follows him to the final stage, winning in the comforting fights of the losers “A”. If “A” loses, then “B” is eliminated from the tournament. If “A” reaches the final, then “B” will participate in the battle for third place with the loser “A” in the semifinals. Thus, it excludes the possibility that in the first fights strong fighters retired.

In the first three fights (successively with Canadian Mark Berger, Cameroonian Isidor Silas and Yugoslav Radomir Kovachevich), Hitoshi Saito spent only a minute and a half, ending each fight with a clear victory. The final fight with the Frenchman Angelo Parisi was difficult, both wrestlers received an oral comment for passive wrestling, but in the end Angelo Parisi received passive wrestling remarks for the passive wrestling (equivalent to the Coca score) and thus Hitoshi Saito won the final and became the Olympic champion. ^[2]

After the Olympics, at the 1985 Japanese Championship in the absolute category, Yamashita lost again in the final, for which this championship was the last in his career. Yamashita was the only judoka to whom Saito lost.

According to Yasuhiro Yamashita:

In order not to lose, I had to attack continuously using my favorite technique. I believed that a continuous attack would produce results, but I knew that throwing Saito was very difficult, if possible at all.

- http://judo.karelia.ru/articles/view/id/173/

In 1987, Hitoshi Saito was finally able to become the champion of Japan in both categories - absolute and over 95 kilograms.

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Hitoshi Saito again fought in the category of over 95 kilograms . The absolute category was excluded from the Olympics program. In his category, 26 judokas fought.

In the first fight, Hitoshi Saito defeated Lansana Koli (Senegal) without much effort. Saito’s subsequent rivals were titled, with three of them having Olympic awards. Saito won Dimitar Zapryanov (Bulgaria), Mohammed Ali Ravshan (Egypt), Cho Young Chol (South Korea) and reached the final with Henry Shtor (Germany), who won in the semifinals against Grigory Verichev . As in previous games, the final fight turned out to be tough and the Japanese wrestler won thanks to several comments for passive wrestling received by Stör. Hitoshi Saito was thus one of the first two judokas to defend his Olympic title, along with Peter Seisenbacher . Until 1988, not a single judoka became a two-time Olympic champion at various Olympics. ^[3]

After the Olympics, he left his career in sports and switched to coaching at the Academy of his native university, while becoming an employee of the department of the faculty of physical education. Later he was appointed head coach of the All-Japan Judo Federation. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he was the head coach of the Japanese men's team; at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he was the coach of the Japanese men's team.

Died January 20, 2015 from bile duct cancer . ^[four]

• Hitoshi Saito - Olympic Statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Hitoshi Saito - profile on judoinside.com