The memory of…
Santiago Ojeda, a canary at the top of Europe
In May 1973, the legendary Galdense fighter signed his greatest personal feat: the first continental title for Spanish judo.
- PEOPLE WITH ELF
- 13/05/2024 – 06:41
Ojeda beats his British rival and, on the right, is at the top of the podium as European champion (File: Telo Nuñez/ULPGC)
Manuel Borrego
During the weekend of May 11 to 13, 1973, Spanish sport vibrated with a Gran Canarian. The giant fighter Santiago Ojeda Pérez won the first gold medal in Spanish judo in Madrid. In the final battle he managed to defeat the British Remfry, becoming the new European heavyweight champion (+93).
The podium was completed with two bronze medals from the Dutchman Adelaar (defeated in the semifinals by Ojeda) and the Soviet Nisharazde (beaten by the islander in the quarterfinals).
He had been searching for that precious metal in previous editions where Ojeda won bronze (Gothenburg, 1971) and silver (The Hague, 1972).
Galdense Ojeda (1944-1997) has gone down in history as one of the greatest athletes the Canary Islands have produced at an international level. To reach that golden moment that he achieved at the age of 29, he had hard work to do. His beginnings were, of course!, in Canarian wrestling and through the Adargoma Wrestlers Club. In the arena of the capital of Gran Canaria he soon discovered his fighting skills, adopting the nickname ‘Pollo de Arenales’.
And encouraged by his fighting qualities, he sealed his first judo license in 1964, the sport where he was going to channel his national and international achievements until the European championship. Amado Ramos was his mentor, with whom he progressed by changing the color of his belts… until the sixth dan posthumously. The Las Palmas Gymnasium, directed by the tireless sports promoter Jesús Telo Nuñez, was the scene of an apprenticeship that led him to win the national judo title 19 times or to participate in the 1972 Munich Olympics, representing Spain.
Although his vocation for wrestling knew no limits since Santiago Ojeda also stood out in Olympic wrestling, sambo (he was world champion) and Greco-Roman.
Ojeda always felt nostalgic for his days in the Canarian struggle, wearing after Adargoma the shields of the Guanches of Arucas and Guanarteme. In the Gallera, residence of this last capital club, there is a bust that commemorates his memory.
The greatest of his feats was that of May 1973. Other Canarian judokas with their own names, Ramón Domínguez, Miguel Ángel Tejera and Francisco Ramos, witnessed it directly. Each one also with their own personal legend.
2024-05-13 06:42:50
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