Won the 73 kg class of judo men at the Tokyo Olympics. Shohei Ono has achieved the feat of winning the Olympics for the second time in a row, the seventh in history in Japanese judo and the fourth in boys. How did you overcome the sudden postponement of the Olympics and lead to results? Continuing from the previous article (“Judo / Shohei Ono pessimistically staring at himself and winning the Olympics in a row”).
A choice that was determined to “win”
――How did you become aware of and adjust your body structure because the Olympics were postponed?
During the two to three months when the first state of emergency was announced, I couldn’t practice satisfactorily, and the days of self-training continued, and of course there were no matches or training camps.
On the other hand, when Japan was still uneasy due to the corona sickness, games were held in Europe where vaccination was progressing, and the Japanese national team players were forced to choose whether or not to participate in overseas games. But I chose not to participate. I thought it would be better to prioritize training over matches in order to regain the time when I couldn’t practice due to Corona.
――There is also a concern that you will lose the sense of the game.
Of course it is important to play in the match. However, in order to aim for consecutive victories, I thought it was important how much I could practice as usual and how much I could do more than ever. It’s a match with lessons.
Also, after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, I went on to graduate school and had the experience of getting a ticket for the Olympics without having to participate in the game for a year and a half, so I was confident that I could meet the peak.
However, I think the directors and coaches of All-Japan Judo were sick of my decision. While there were various discussions around me saying, “I think it’s better to play in the game,” in a sense, by making the choice of “not participating” like a bet, I decided to fulfill my responsibility as a representative. It was also the moment when I decided that I had no choice but to win.
――While spending time training and training, what specific steps did you take to build your body?
Since it’s the Tokyo Olympics, we don’t do anything special, but the stages from one big game to the next are always almost the same. For example, there are three or four big games a year, but after the game, to refresh the mind and body, we do some light exercise but take a break from training. After taking an active rest, you can do running and weight training to build your body so that you will not get injured in judo. When you have a certain amount of body, in parallel, you will repeat the basics of judo (practice of repeating the movement of the process until you throw the opponent) about 1000 times a day in the corner of the rehearsal hall, for about a month. Since driving is a steady and repetitive task, it is honestly annoying. It may not be what the gold medalist does. But I value this repetitive practice. When you feel that you have a body that you feel, start randori training with the other person.
Photo = @teppei――Why do you value the period of driving?
Judo has many complicated movements, and it is a competition in which you engage with your opponents to engage in techniques, so no matter how careful you are, you will probably get injured. I think it is important to build a strong body that can withstand such situations.
In addition, the characteristic of Judo at Tenri University is that the basics are important by properly assembling and throwing correctly. Recently, the number of players who can do beautiful judo has decreased, but I learned that driving practice is the most important task in order to properly assemble and throw with my specialty.
Then, I will train in practice and hone my skills, and I will build more body and improve my condition for the game. After that, the weight is reduced, and when the weighing is finished, the final adjustment is made and the game is started. After the match, I take a rest, build my body by running and weight training, drive in, and practice judo. As long as I continue to compete, I think I’ll just repeat these things honestly.
Of course, if you have only one month until the next game, you can adjust and train according to your own feelings, such as shortening each term tightly or lengthening the body building time if you rest for a long time after the game. However.
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