 |
| Bruno Carmeni | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 29, 1940 Beirut, Lebanon |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Weight | 178 lb (81 kg; 12.7 st) |
| Division | Middleweight |
| Style | Judo |
| Rank | black belt 8th Dan |
| Years active | 60 |
Bruno Carmeni (born December 29, 1940, in Beirut, Lebanon) is an Italian judoka, who started training judo in 1955. He competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics. [1]
At the age of fifteen (1955) some friends asked him to come to judo with them. This is how he started at the club of Fiamma Yamato located in via Corvieri in Rome (Italy). He had several masters among which Vittorio Porceddu, Elio Paci, Vinicio Volpi and last but not least Noritomo Ken Otani. Thanks to the latter he was introduced to a judo form much closer to the original Japanese one, allowing him to perfection his judo techniques. Thanks to the skill of this master he learns to understand the term Do, the way, that allows him to reach several goals. Already in 1960 he has his first results by winning the silver medal at the Italian Championships for blue and brown belts, allowing him to open the doors in order to get into the Italian National Squad. In the same year he gets his black belt 1st dan. He continues to win at many National and Regional Tournaments and is noticed by the Federal Sports Director, who calls him to participate at several trainings of the National Team. In 1961 he enters as voluntary the Police at the Sports Center of the Fiamme Oro (Gold Flame, State Police) and is sent to the Sports Center of Nettuno. Here he perfections further more his judo techniques, thanks to the contribution of master Otani and this allows him to win the first Italian Title in the up to 68 kg weight division in Perugia. In the afternoon of the same day he wins also the Silver medal in the open weight division. Another six National Titles follow after this first time in Perugia.
He is 21 times member of the Italian National Team and participates at 8 European Championships. In 1963 he wins the Silver Medal at the European Championships in Geneva (Switzerland), becoming the first Italian light weight in Italian’s judo history to reach this goal. The Italian National Olympic Committee adds him to the list of “Probable Olympians” for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He participates at this first time judo event at the Olympic Games along with Nicola Tempesta (the only two Italians who participated in judo). [2] After the competition at the Olympics he becomes a member of the team "Rest of the World”, touring Japan to fight against Japanese teams in Tokyo, Tenri, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Fukuoka, where he places first. Thanks to the help of master Ken Otani he gets a scholarship to enter the University of Tenri (Nara). He remains in Japan for two years studying judo and the Japanese language, getting a diploma in the latter. During his stay there he has had the chance to study under several outstanding masters among which Ken Otani (9th dan), Kotani (10th dan), Ebii (9th dan), Matsumoto (9th dan), Daigo (9th dan), Osawa (8th dan) and Hashimoto (8th dan). He returns to Italy in 1966, where he wins other National Titles and several silver and bronze medals; in total he participates at 44 National Championships.
In 1970 he quits with competitions and becomes first the trainer of the Junior National Team and then of the Senior Team, followed by the University Team and the National Visually Impaired one, belonging to the National Blind Sports Federation (FICS), later called Italian Federation of Disabled Sport (FISD). Later he becomes the National Sports Director of the later. In 1971 the Italian National Judo Academy is founded, of which he is the first teacher. He is elected to the Council of the Technical Teachers Order of the Federation and after that is part of several National Technical Commissions in order to define the technical programs for grading and qualification and also for teaching.
In 1987 he is nominated Chairman for Judo within the International Blind Sport Association (IBSA), position, that he keeps for five Olympic four years periods. He becomes also member of the International Paralympic Committee. He tours the world for conferences, technical and pedagogical updating courses. He has contacts and meetings with the International Judo Federation and the Continental Judo Unions, in which he promotes the cause of the Visually Impaired Athletes under the slogan “disability maximum ability”. He is Technical Delegate at the following Paralympic Games: Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and VIP Guest at Beijing (2008)and London (2012). He is Director at 11 World Championships, 13 Europeans and 2 Asian Games. He receives many National and International awards among which: Knight to the Merit of the Italian Republic, Gold Star of the National Italian Olympic Committee, Gold Star of the Olympic Committee of the Russian Confederation as first foreigner honored by such award, Ambassador of USA Judo, awards from the Olympic Committees of Algeria, China and Libya. He receives the International Cultural and Sport Lions Club prize, the Bronze Medal from the International Judo Federation and the Honors Medal from the Italian National Judo Federation (FIJLKAM). He is Well-deserving and International Referee, Well-deserving Master. He receives a special motion from the University of Fighting Arts, the Yong In University Korea. In 2018 the FIJLKAM Chairman awards him with the 9th dan, one among the highest recognitions both National and International. He writes many technical books, which deal with judo teaching methods for kids, grading systems, judo’s pedagogy and psychology, judo’s culture, the kata, sensorial disabled athletes and their integration thanks to the practice of judo. His books have been translated into English, Spanish, Arabic, Braille and mentioned all around the world. In 2007 he is nominated technical consultant of the Visually Impaired Chinese National Judo Team for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics. Thanks to the outstanding teaching method in favor of the members of the American Police, he is nominated Honor Member of the New Jersey Police (USA) At the Judo World Championships, which took place in São Paulo (Brazil) in June 2007 he won two Silver medals (weight division and open). In 2018 he is awarded by the Association of the National Police Treviso Section and by the CONCILIO DE MAESTROS DE LAS ARTES MARCIALES in Cartagena Spain.
He teaches and is Sport Director of the ASD Judo Club Conegliano, Treviso (Italy).
Throughout the years he has maintained his strong bond to Japan and since 2006 he has been regularly once or twice a year there. In 2010 the idea to open a Japanese Cultural Center at the Judo Club Conegliano, thus promoting activities such as Japanese Language, Ikebana, Taiko and more. In 2012 he reaches an agreement with the Judo Headquarter in Tenri becoming Tenri Judo Conegliano.
Alfred Harold Douglas Rogers was a Canadian Olympic competitor in judo, and the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the sport. He was an honoured member in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. His best results were a silver medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and a gold medal at the Pan American Games, in 1967. He was a student of Masahiko Kimura.
Tadahiro Nomura is a retired Japanese judoka. He is the only judoka in the world who has won three individual Olympic gold medals in a row, all in the extra lightweight (–60 kg) division.
Yasuhiro Yamashita is a Japanese judoka. He currently works as an instructor or advisor for numerous organizations, including Tokai University, the International Judo Federation, and the All Japan Judo Federation. He retired from competitive judo on 17 June 1985 after a remarkable career where he won five gold medals in international competitions and marked 203 consecutive victories until his retirement where he went undefeated his entire career against non-Japanese wrestlers. He received the Japanese National Prize of Honor on 9 October 1984. He is considered the greatest judoka ever.
Shinji Hosokawa is a Japanese retired judoka who won two Olympic medals during the 1980s.
Toshihiko Koga was a Japanese judoka, 9th degree black belt and Olympic champion who competed in the –71 kg and –78 kg divisions. Koga is regarded as having perhaps the greatest ippon seoi nage ever. He died of cancer on 24 March 2021 at the age of 53.
Hitoshi Saito was a Japanese judoka who won two consecutive gold medals at the Olympic games.
Tenri University is a Japanese private university in Tenri, Nara Prefecture, an independent part of the secular mission of the new religious movement Tenrikyo. It was established in February 1925 as the coeducational Tenri Foreign Language School, enrolling 104 students, and was reorganised as a university in April 1949.
Kazuhiro Ninomiya is a retired judoka who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Akio Kaminaga was a Japanese judoka who won a silver medal in the open weight category at the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Yoshimi Masaki is a retired Japanese judoka who is a professor at Tenri University.
Koji Sone was a Japanese judoka and world champion.
The Japanese martial art and combat sport judo has been practised in Canada for over a century. The first long-term judo dojo in Canada, Tai Iku Dojo, was established by a Japanese immigrant named Shigetaka "Steve" Sasaki in Vancouver in 1924. Sasaki and his students opened several branch schools in British Columbia and even trained RCMP officers until 1942, when Japanese Canadians were expelled from the Pacific coast and either interned or forced to move elsewhere in Canada due to fears that they were a threat to the country after Japan entered the Second World War. When the war was over, the government gave interned Japanese Canadians two options: resettle in Canada outside of the 'Japanese exclusion zone' or emigrate to Japan.
Varlam Liparteliani is a Georgian judoka. He has won silver at Olympic and World level.
James Takemori was an American judoka and World War II veteran.
Spyros Rigos is a 7th dan Greek judoka who represented Greece in international competition, and was the head coach of the national judo team from 1998 to 2000. Rigos shares with Yiannis Tsaparas the record of having the greatest number of Greek national titles in his weight division.
Amandine Buchard is a French judoka. She represented France at the 2020 Summer Olympics winning the silver medal in the half lightweight event and a gold medal in the mixed team event. She is a third dan black belt.
The Italian Federation of Judo, Wrestling, Karate and Martial Arts (Italian: Federazione Italiana Judo Lotta Karate Arti Marziali a sports organization affiliated to the Italian National Olympic Committee.
Baruch Shmailov is an Israeli Olympic judoka. He competes in the under 66 kg weight category, and won a gold medal in the 2022 World Masters in Jerusalem. Shmailov also won a bronze in the 2017 World Masters, as well as a silver at the 2018 World Masters.
Peter Paltchik is a Ukrainian-born Israeli former European champion and Olympic judoka, competing in the under 100 kg weight category, of which he is the current number 1 ranked Judoka in the world. Paltchik won the bronze medal at the 2018 European Judo Championships in Tel Aviv. In 2019 he won the Israeli championship in the 100+ Kg category. He then won the gold medal at the 2020 European Judo Championships in Prague. Paltchik also won a bronze medal in the mixed team judo competition in the 2021 Olympics. At the 2023 World Judo Championships he won a bronze medal. Paltchik represented Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in judo in the men's 100 kg event and in the mixed team event, and was the flag bearer for his country, alongside the swimmer Andrea Murez.