The 101-Year-Old American Who Made Judo An Olympic Sport
The Lead
Wondery
3.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2021
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At the Tokyo Olympics, Japan has more or less dominated the competition in a martial art that originated in Japan -- judo. But it turns out, it was actually an American who is responsible for judo becoming an Olympic sport in the first place. The Athletic's Daniel Brown recently sat down with the now 101-year-old Californian, Yoshihiro "Yosh" Uchida, to talk about his incredible life journey -- from growing up on a tomato farm to becoming a judo pioneer and now an Olympic legend (with a whole lot of challenges along the way) -- and why he doesn't plan to let the pandemic stop him from getting back onto the mat or continuing to grow the sport for future generations. Plus, the untold story of Uchida's impact on an NFL coaching legend.
Read Dan Brown's full story about Yosh Uchida's incredible life:
https://theathletic.com/2716391/2021/07/26/2021-olympics-judo-yosh-uchida/
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Transcript
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| 0:31.0 | It's a weekly show where we deep dive into the most talked about cases like the Delphi murders |
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| 0:45.0 | Oh, look at that. Oh, that's what he has to do. What a technique that was. |
| 0:58.0 | What to know who she got me that was. That was a blind up. |
| 1:06.0 | One of the most intriguing sports at this year's Olympics has been judo |
| 1:10.0 | where the host nation of Japan has largely dominated the competition. |
| 1:13.0 | She waited for the 20 seconds. She gets the upon. |
| 1:16.0 | Abe, Uta of Japan is the Olympic champion. |
| 1:20.0 | But it turns out it was an American who transformed the Japanese martial art into an Olympic sport. |
| 1:27.0 | Today, the Athletics Daniel Brown has the incredible story of Yoshida, |
| 1:32.0 | how he rewrote Olympic history and how at age 101 he is still itching to get back on the mat. |
| 1:40.0 | You know, the pandemic has been tough on him. He can't wait to get back out there. |
| 1:44.0 | Like it's not like it's over. It's when he's got the green light to go back. |
| 1:47.0 | He's going to go back from wondering in the athletic. I'm Anders Keltow. |
| 1:51.0 | It's Thursday, August 5th, and this is the lead. |
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