Antonius Johannes Geesink (6 April 1934 – 27 August 2010) At the 1961 World Championships, Geesink, then 5th dan, became World Champion in the open class, defeating the Japanese champion Koji Sone. Japanese judokas had won all the World Championship titles contested up to that point.

Judo debuted as an official sport at the 1964 Summer Olympics, held in the sport's home country, Japan. Although Japan dominated three of the four weight divisions (light, middle, and heavy), Anton Geesink won the final of the open weight division, defeating Akio Kaminaga in front of his home crowd.

International Olympic Committee work

In 1986 during the Maastricht IJF DC meeting Geesink proposed that one player should wear a blue Judogi.

In 1987, Geesink became a member of the board of the Dutch National Olympic Committee, and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Geesink was among the IOC members suspected of accepting bribes during the scandal surrounding the election of Salt Lake City as the host of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Geesink's name was cleared by the IOC which nevertheless issued him a warning for the appearance of a conflict of interest which could have damaged the reputation of the IOC. Geesink continued working for IOC until his death in 2010.

Honours

thumb|upright|right|Statue of Anton Geesink in Utrecht (by Theo van de Vathorst, 1995)

Geesink was chosen as the Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 1957, 1961, 1964 and 1965.

His home town of Utrecht has a street named after him — which is the street he lived on for some time up until his death in August 2010.

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ヘーシンク氏は、一九六四年東京オリンピックにおいて、柔道無差別級で外国人選手として初めて金メダルを獲得し、その後、武道精神をもって国際平和に貢献するとともにオランダ・日本両国民の文化交流・友好関係の促進に努め、また柔道を教育学や生体学的角度から研究し、その普及発展のために尽力された。

武道の精神を重視する本大学は、柔道の国際的普及における同氏の功績を讃え、国士舘大学名誉博士の学位を贈呈した。

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At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Mr. Geesink won the gold medal in the open class as the first non-Japanese. Since then, with the spirit of budō, he has contributed to the international peace and promoted the cultural exchange and friendship between the people of the Netherlands and of Japan. Furthermore, he explored judo in light of education and somatology and has been devoted to its diffusion and development. To honor his contribution to the worldwide diffusion of judo, this university, as a body which prizes the spirit of budō, awarded him an honorary doctorate of Kokushikan University.

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References

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  • Online access to the inventory of the archives of Geesink (The Utrecht Archives)