After missing the Tokyo Grand Slam, meaning almost no selection for the 2023 World Championships, the rumor has now become reality. According to the Japan Times, the legend Shohei Ono is retiring at only 30 years old.
An outstanding champion
Shohei Ono, a record of achievement worthy of the greatest
Shohei Ono reveals himself to the public in 2012 at only 20 years old with a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. The following year, at the age of 21, he won his first world championship title in the -73kg category against the Frenchman Ugo Legrand.
He will win two more world championship titles in 2015 and 2019, and two Olympic titles in 2016 in Rio and 2021 on home soil in Tokyo.
Shohei Ono is considered one of the best judokas in history and the most dominant in his class. He has won every major dis championship he has participated in from 2015 to 2021.
He has an impressive career win rate of 101/111 bouts, including 73 by Ippon. The Japanese judoka is renowned for his Osoto-Gari, a judo technique on which he wrote his thesis.
In short, today marks the end of the career of one of the legends of Japanese judo. At only 30 years old, the double Olympic judo champion leaves his playground. This great champion has inspired thousands of young judokas in the world.
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