Tani, Ryoko

▪ 2005

 Japanese judo queen Ryoko Tani claimed her second straight Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens, becoming the first woman judoka to have won two Olympic titles. Using her fabulous inside leg technique to defeat Frederique Jossinet of France in the final, Tani proved herself one of the world's exceptional judo masters, underscoring a celebrated career that included six consecutive world championships in the 48-kg class. Her hunt for the gold in Athens meant a professional triumph for the 28-year-old Tani. One month before the Games, she had suffered a foot injury that prevented her from training for three weeks. She also achieved her personal goal of bringing home a gold medal under her married name. Athens was the first world stage for Tani, formerly known as Tamura, since she married Japanese professional baseball player (and fellow Olympian) Yoshitomo Tani in 2003.

      Tani was born on Sept. 6, 1975, in Fukuoka and began attending a dojo at age eight, following her older brother. Within four months she was using her newly learned throw technique to beat large boys at a competition held at a local Shinto shrine. At age 14 she took third in the Kyushu women's tournament in the 48-kg class, and in 1988 she placed first in the competition. In July of the same year, she was third in the national women's tournament, and five months later she achieved her first major victory by defeating the renowned Karen Briggs of England in the Fukuoka international women's judo tournament.

      Tani studied literature at Teikyo University in Tokyo, and for a time she attended Nippon Sport Science University's graduate program, majoring in physical education, but her judo accomplishments from age 16 encouraged her to keep pursuing her career and entering larger international arenas. In 1990 she captured the first of 13 consecutive titles at the Fukuoka international. Three years later she won her first world championship and received the fourth dan, the highest rank an active judo player could obtain. After appearing as a finalist in her first Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, Tani went four years and 84 matches without a loss until she was defeated by Kye Sun Hi of North Korea at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga., and had to settle for another silver. Four years later at the Games in Sydney, Australia, however, Tani succeeded in bringing home her dream-come-true gold.

      Tani, widely known in Japan as “Yawara-chan” (the name derived from a manga character), won numerous awards. She was honoured by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2002 and by Emperor Akihito in 2003. She was also an immensely popular celebrity in Japan, and her wedding, which reportedly cost some $3 million, was televised throughout the country.

Kimiyo Naka-Michaeli

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