Judo master, 97, puts ‘spirit’ above medals at Olympics

TOKYO: Proudly sporting the red belt marking him out as one of the 15 highest-ranked Japanese judo masters in history, 97-year-old Ichiro Abe hopes the sport’s homecoming at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be more than a quest for gold.

Just three years shy of his 100th birthday and with the clock ticking towards the Games, Abe is training with a younger disciple during the famous Winter Training at the Tokyo Kodokan, where the sport began nearly 140 years ago.

Despite Japanese fans and media pinning their hopes on a rich haul of judo medals, Abe said the Olympics are a chance to show the world the real significance of the home-grown sport, which prizes discipline over competition.

"All in all, we should not forget the original spirit of judo," Abe told AFP as he limbered up in the Kodokan’s seventh-floor dojo for the session that starts at 5:30 am sharp and attracts pilgrims from around the world.

Abe points to the teachings of judo founder Jigoro Kano, who stares down benevolently from a black-and-white portrait at the front of the dojo.

"Now winning medals comes ahead of everything. I hope that will be reviewed a bit," said Abe, who describes Kano as a "god".

Judo is likely to be one of the hottest tickets in Tokyo as it returns to the country where Kano established it in 1882, combining different forms of jujitsu with his own ideas, including spiritual discipline. Kano believed judo’s ultimate goal was to "strive for personal perfection" through discipline and training, in turn contributing to society.

The sport’s founder is inextricably linked to the Olympics. He was the first Asian member of the International Olympic Committee in 1909 and travelled abroad to demonstrate judo, helping it to feature when Tokyo last hosted the Games in 1964.

He is a legend in Japan who promoted sport far beyond judo. He established the nation’s first physical education course at a Tokyo University, and founded the forerunner to the Japan Sports Association.