25 January: lots of famous judoka celebrate their birthday

It is quite a special day with lot’s of famous birthdays at the 25th of January. Multiple Olympic medallists celebrate their birthday.

Kazakh judoka Galbadrakh Otgontsetseg is originally from Mongolia who switched to Kazakhstan in 2015. She was Olympic bronze medallist in 2016 in Rio. She won world bronze in 2017 in Budapest and in 2018 in Baku. In 2016 she won the Grand Slam of Paris among 32 World Cup medals. She gave birth to a baby but she is just 30 and we see her coming back soon.

Japanese Shishime Ai was candidate for the Olympic Games but obviously had competition of youngster Abe. Ai became World Champion in 2021 and 2017 both in Budapest and took silver in 2018 in Baku and bronze in 2019 in Tokyo. Ai contributed to the World team title for Juniors with Japan. In 2019 she won gold at the Grand Slam of Paris. Last year around this time took silver at the IJF Judo masters in Doha in 2021. Shishime is still an asset for the Japanese team and she is just 28.

Kim Jae Bum is one of the most successful ever judoka for Korea. He turned 37 today and Kim became Olympic Champion in 2012 and was 2008 Olympic finalist, both finals against Ole Bischof (GER). Kim was World Champion U81kg in 2010 and 2011 and won various Asian titles. He was a great technician with a very strong seoi-nage. He mastered the reverse technique that are now taken away from judo. Jae-Bum Kim (KOR) was number 1 of the IJF World Ranking for seniors U81kg from 2009-2013.

Russian judoka Kirill Denisov won silver U90kg at the 2015 World Championships and bronze U100kg in 2017. Six times he finished in the top five. He turned 34 and is now team manager of the Russian team. Denisov won the European title in 2011, 2013 and the European Games in 2015, he won bronze U100kg in 2017. He won five World Championships medals and finished fifth at the London Olympic Games. In his new weight category U100kg he took quite a few medals. He took silver at the Grand Slam of Ekaterinburg in 2019. World Mixed team bronze in Tokyo in 2019.

Belgian hero Toma Nikiforov won a heroic World bronze in 2015 in Astana against Cyrille Maret. He won the European senior title in 2018 in Tel Aviv and in 2021 in Lisbon. Toma had won European Games silver in 2015. He won three European Junior medals and World Junior silver in 2013. In 2017 he won the Grand Prix Düsseldorf 2017. He won bronze at the Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2017. He won the Grand Slam in Tashkent in 2021 and took bronze in Tbilisi. Toma is 29 and can still do miracles.

Another Olympic medallist celebrates her birthday, Chelsie Giles claimed the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. She took gold at the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv in 2021. She became British senior and Junior Champion U52kg in 2015. She claimed bronze at the European Games in Minsk. She was seventh at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo but did even better at the Olympics. Chelsie is just 25 and definitely a candidate for a medal in Paris.

Two Germans celebrate their birthday: 2016 German Champion Sven Heinle of SV Fellbach won bronze at the World Junior Championships in 2011 and won bronze medals at European Championships for Cadets, Juniors and U23. He clinched the gold medal at the Grand Prix in Marrakech in 2019. Sven turns 30. German judoka Marc Odenthal In 2015 Odenthal won the Grand Prix Tashkent in 2015. He was German champion in 2015. He qualified for the Rio Olympic Games via the continental quota. He won seven World Cup medals since 2013. He retired in 2019 and is 31 years.

Serbian judoka Marica Perisic is getting better and better. She was fifth at the World Championships in Budapest last year. She took the Junior European title in Porec in 2020 and bronze at the U23 Europeans. She bagged a bronze medal at the Grand Slam in Kazan in 2021 and bronze in Tashkent last year. Marica is multiple Serbian Champion and just turned 22. She can make it to the top three of the world in her category if she keeps developing this way.