Nakatani Takehide

Born in Hiroshima in 1941, in a family where his four brothers received a black belt in judo. Takehide Nakatani himself began to practice judo at the age of 12 and soon became distinguished by a balanced style of wrestling both in the stance and in the stalls and a well-sharpened undercut under the heel ( kosoto-gari ), which he carried out with his left foot. Also in his arsenal was a well-proven throw through the back with a grab of his hand on his shoulder ( ippon seoi-nage )

After graduating from school, he was accepted to continue his studies at Meiji University . He continued his judo classes there, but could not enter the university team, because there was high competition - for example, the winner of the 7th dan, Seiji Sakaguchi, participated in the team. Thus, Takehide Nakatani before the Olympics did not have the opportunity to participate in fights with non-Japanese (excluding the match meeting between the USSR and Japan).

Representing Japan at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo was selected just a few days before the start of the competition. In his category, 24 judokas fought.

Competitions were held according to the circular system in groups and then according to the Olympic system. Wrestlers were divided into eight groups of three people each. The winner of the group reached the quarter finals, after which the competition was eliminated after the defeat. In the first two bouts, Takeheide Nakatani (with Briton Brian Jacks and Thai Oud Rasmelungon) spent three minutes. In the quarterfinals, Takeheide Nakatani met with American Paul Maruyama, who also calmly cracked down on opponents in his group and felt very confident. Takeheide Nakatani spent 24 seconds on the American, throwing him cleanly on the tatami with a side slash ( deishi harai ). In the semifinals, Takeheide Nakatani met with Oleg Stepanov .

The Soviet judoka managed to throw, but he was not judged by the judge.

“When Stepanov threw me on my back, I thought - that’s it, Ippon ! Harakiri will have to do. I opened one eye and saw that the judge did not give even half a clean victory! How amazed I was. But then he got together and spent his throw " ^[1] .

Takeheide Nakatani managed to grab ( uti-mata ) and his crown cut under the heel from the outside. Both throws were judged at waza-ari , and thus the Japanese wrestler won a clear victory ( waza-ari waza-ari avasete ippon ).

In the final, Takeheide Nakatani fought with Eric Henny from Switzerland, and in the first minutes of the fight he earned waza-ari . A minute later, the Japanese judoka carried out a side-cutting under the exposed leg ( deashi harai ) but the throw was not appreciated to the surprise of those present. After some time, the chief referee stopped the fight, and after a long consultation with the judges, assessed the throw in waza-ari and thus gave the victory to the Japanese wrestler, which brought him a gold medal and the title of Olympic champion. ^[2]

Then Takehehe Nakatani won the Japanese Championship, and took only third place at the 1967 World Championship. After that, he left his sports career. By that time, since 1964, after graduating from university, he worked in the Mitsubishi branch. In 1969, he left for Germany , where he became the coach of the country's national team, preparing it for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich . Two judokas from the West German team became winners of the Olympics. In 1973, he returned to Hiroshima, where he started a family jewelry business, and was also appointed adviser to the Japanese Judo Federation and President of the Hiroshima Judo Federation.

In 2003 he was awarded the Medal of Honor with a Blue Ribbon

• Takeheide Nakatani - Olympic stats on Sports-Reference.com
• Takeheide Nakatani - profile on judoinside.com