judo from the untrained eyes' pov : July 30 2024

as i was walking on the treadmill, i decided to go through the tv channels and searched for something to watch.
there was really nothing much to choose from, the obvious choice was to watch the olympics.
it was a judo match, a sport i have no idea of what the rules are.

from what i gathered while watching, a match is 4 minutes long.
if that results into a draw, the match continues untimed referred as golden score.
and whoever gets a score first will win.
at least that part was simple to deduce.
the hard part was how they get scores.

there was so much sleeves tugging in this game, and so much hugging; this is a game for people who wished to be hugged and wishes to give hugs.
but sadly the referee do not want the hugs and interferes, he or she pauses the game once you get too much hugs and resets to square one.
boo to the referee, give them more hug time please.

kidding aside, i guess the objective is to tumble the opponent; i don't know what the correct form should be but it seems that is what the athletes are trying to do.
i guess another objective is to pin the opponent to the ground; thus, the hugging.
i also do not know what the "correct" hug is but most hugs ended in a yellow card.
in other sports like soccer or football, yellow cards indicate a penalty.
so i guess it is also the same in judo.
i wonder if this sport also has a black card or a red card, those colors must mean nasty violations.
can anyone here shed some light on the rules?
i would love to know.

the sport was broadcasted live because of a japanese judoka, takanori nagase, having a quarter finals match against the belgian casse.
for context, nagase-san was ranked 8th while casse-san was ranked 1st in the world's under 81 kg class.
ranks wise, the japanese was an underdog.
but like any other sports, ranks do not matter much on each fight; every athlete is on equal footing on the ring.

the match started and went through the 4 minutes without any points taken; the japanese judoka certainly stood his ground there.
now it entered the "golden score", this made the match more exciting.
if the nagase-san wins, japan would celebrate with him; but, that would be a major upset for the top ranked belgian.
the match went on until, the japanese tumbled the belgian.
nagase-san won!
casse-san was so upset with that turn out, i honestly thought he would cause a scene.
the referee already asked them to return to their places for the final bow before she announces the winner, casse-san was still kneeling looking at the crowd as if in protest.
he did in the end after such a long awkward pause.

like any sport, only your performance on that specific moment matters.
practice helps you get to your optimal shape but still, only your performance on the match matters.
at least us outside the ring has a lifetime to prove who we really are as a person.
the match ends once we exit, only by then will we know if we did great.

oh well, judo got me thinking.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!