Giovanni Manenti Since the Judo is included in the Olympic program, i.e. from the 1964 Tokyo Games – then also extended to the women’s sector by the 1992 Barcelona edition – initially opposed the Japanese dominance in this discipline Holland, so much so that its representative Anton Geesink “ruin”The expected Japanese en plein in the homeland, defeating home idol Akio Kaminaga in the Open Category, and then, eight years later in Munich 1972 (Judo is not allowed at the 1968 Mexico City Games …) to be his compatriot Wim Ruska to do even better, winning both in the Heavyweight and in the Open Category …
Since then, however, despite the increase in categories – from only 4 in Tokyo to 6 in Munich up to the current 7 – of others Dutch judoka capable of getting on the top step of the podium if they don’t see it for the next 20 years, collecting just two bronzes with Henk Numan in the Light Heavyweight in Moscow 1980 and Ben Spijkers in the Middleweight in Seoul in 1988.
With the entry into the 90s, although there is always a lack of Gold, there is at least a recovery at the level of movement, given that in Barcelona in 1992 the bronzes become two – Theo Meijer and Irene de Kok, both in the Light Heavyweight – and four years later in Atlanta they go up to three, with Jenny Gal in the Super Lightweight and Claudia Zwiers in the Women’s Middleweight, as well as the protagonist of our Today’s history in the male one …
Born on September 10, 1973 in Vlaardingen, Mark Huizinga is a career soldier, where he has the opportunity to devote himself to the practice of judo and also refine his technique, making his entry into the international scene at the age of 18, and then competing in his first European Championships in May 1994 in Gdansk, Poland, taking a significant third place in the Super Lightweight Category, suffering only one defeat by the Austrian Patrick Reiter, before seizing the first prestigious success ad early March 1995, winning the Budapest stage of the World Cup, beating the Japanese Yasuhiro Nakashima in the Final, only to remain outside the medals area at the following Continental Review in Birmingham.
European title that Huizinga makes his own the following year, when – climbed in category among the mediums, to the limit of 86kg. – in the Final he overtook the Russian Oleg Maisev in The Hague in mid-May 1996, certainly the best way to present yourself at the Olympics which take place at the end of July in Atlanta, where indeed the role of favorite for Gold belongs by right to South Korean Jeon Ki-Young, given his role as reigning World Champion, a title won at the 1993 Hamilton World Championships and successfully defended two years later in Chiba, Japan, having the best in both cases in the Final on the Japanese Hideiko Yoshida, who on the other hand, he was awarded the Olympic Gold four years earlier in Barcelona, but in the lower Superlight category …
Japanese who, on the tatami of the “Georgia World Congress Center“Is unexpectedly defeated for ippon in the first match by the Romanian Adrian Croitoru, so as to jeopardize the road to the Gold, only to redeem himself in the repechage that finally lead him to face the German Marko Spittka in the challenge that is worth the bronze, which sees the European to establish itself for superiority, while ad Huizinga could not have done worse, given the match with Jeon in the first round, however, being beaten with honor for superiority, only to redeem himself at the repechage only with better results, imposing himself in the match for the bronze right on Croitoru, while the Gold goes, as expected, to Jeon who overtakes Uzbek Armen Bagdasarov in the Final.
The Olympic medal is the right stimulus for the 23-year-old Dutchman, who the following year he confirmed himself as European Champion in Ostend, as well as in 1998 in the Continental Review which takes place in Oviedo, respectively having the better of the Austrian of Russian origin Sergej Klischin and of Spittka – German who had instead won silver at the 1997 World Championships in Paris, defeated in the Final by Jeon who thus completes a trio of world titles, Review that, on the contrary, sees Huizinga go out in the first round by the Cuban Yosvane Despaigne, against which he takes his revenge in March 1998 by winning the stage of the World Cup in Rome …
The one with the World Cup is an idyll that does not blossom for Huizinga who, after finishing in third place at the European Championships at the end of May 1999 in Bratislava (defeated in the semifinals by the Lithuanian Algimantas Merkevicius …), still fails the appointment world champion at the beginning of October in Birmingham, where Despaigne once again barred his way in the second round, so that, having also failed to regain the continental title at the end of May 2000 in Wroclaw, this time overtaken in the Final by Croitoru, he faces the journey to Sydney to take part in the “Millennium End Games“Certainly not with the role of favorite, considering that, to balance Jeon’s retirement, there is the return of Yoshida who, after two years of inactivity, had confirmed that he would still be able to have his say, winning the 1999 Birmingham Review, beating the Moldovan Victor Florescu in the Final.
Moldovan but sensationally out of the scene in the first round of Olympic tournament which takes place on September 20, 2000 on the “Sydney Exhibition Centre”, defeated for ippon after only 40 “by the representative of Mauritius Jean Claude Raphael, both of whom are part of the upper part of the board, in which Huizinga has the opportunity to take the sweetest of revenge on Despaigne, pinning him after 4 ‘of struggle, in a first round that is also fatal to Spittka, who gives in for superiority in front of the American Brian Olson …
Sydney is the right occasion for the Dutch massif (1.84m for 90kg, the new limit set for the Medium Category …) for “settle old accounts“, Given that after winning for ippon in less than 2 ‘with Olson, also eliminates Croitoru from the competition, establishing himself on points, so that the only Canadian Keith Morgan remains as the last obstacle towards the Final for the Gold, passed before the limit after 3’22 ”for ippon.
In the lower part of the board, the South Korean Yoo Sung-Yeon, bronze medal the previous year, leaves the scene in the second round, while Yoshida, who arrived in the third round, swears bad luck as after only 43 “of the match against the Brazilian Carlos Honorato, he falls badly on his elbow and sprains his arm, so that he has to abandon the Tournament and give the green light to the 26-year-old from Sao Paulo who, after having also imposed himself on the Frenchman Frederic Demontfucon, finds himself facing Huizinga in the challenge that is worth the highest step of the Podium …
With the four medalists of the 1999 World Championships having left the scene, for Huizinga there is a more unique than rare opportunity to bring his country back to the “Throne of Olympia”Almost 30 years after Ruska’s statements, e he does not let it escape, given that Honorato, at the best placement of his career, does not put up a great deal of resistance, up to giving in for ippon after 3’22 ”from the start of the match.
In the following years, Huizinga confirmed itself on a continental level – making it his own a fourth European title in 2001 in Paris, followed by bronze in Maribor 2002 and Dusseldorf 2003, in addition to silver in Bucharest, where the blue Francesco Lepre defeated him in the Final – as the “world curse“, Which still sees him off the podium both in 2001 in Munich and two years later in Osaka, respectively defeated by the Algerian Khaled Meddah and the omnipresent Despaigne …
However, there are athletes, of any Discipline, who exalt themselves in the Olympic arena, unlike others who suffer the pressure, and having now crossed the threshold of 30 years, Huizinga is ready to do battle at the 2004 Athens Games where he is called to defend the Sydney title, even if the results of the last World Championship in Osaka 2003 make the predictions hang on the side of the two finalists, namely the South Korean Hwang Hee-Tae and the Georgian Zurab Zviadauri, the last silver also two years earlier in Munich .
The Dutchman is not, however, an opponent to be beaten so easily, furthermore prodded by the privilege received of acting as flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Games, even if, after getting rid of the German Gerhard Dempf after just 57 seconds, he sees vanish the hope of a second Gold in the match that sees him defeated by Hwang, however, with a little honorable verdict of “not combativeness”, Even if this shame is amply redeemed during the repechage that sees him conquer the bronze after three consecutive victories before the limit, while the Gold Medal is worn by Zviadauri who overtakes the Japanese Hiroshi Izumi for ippon, in turn “Lawbringer”In Hwang.
One might think that, with a third Olympic medal in his Palmarès, the time has come for Huizinga to say enough, but the person concerned thinks differently and, after finally conquering a world podium too – bronze in the 2005 Cairo Review where Izumi stands out – he believes he will extend the activity until his fourth Olympics, during which he is still third at the 2005 Rotterdam European Championships and then return to the European top in mid-April 2008 in Lisbon, beating Azerbaijani Elkhan Mammadov in the Final…
Let’s imagine what may have gone through the Dutchman’s mind … “if I’m still the best in the Old Continent, why not try one last Olympic chance… ??“, Reasoning that does not make a wrinkle, were it not that the identity card also claims its rights, in the figure of the Swiss Sergei Aschwanden who defeats him in the second round, while the Gold remains in Georgia, this time with Irakli Tsirekidze confirming himself after the world title in Rio de Janeiro 2007.
After the activity, Huizinga does not leave the World of Judo, appointed Ambassador of the “IJF Academy“And inserted in the”International Judo Federation Hall of Fame“In 2018, a more deserved recognition that we believe cannot exist …
