Shinobu Sekine

Shinobu Sekine
	Sekine on a stamp of Ajman
Personal information
Born	20 September 1943; Oarai, Ibaraki, Japan
Died	18 December 2018 (aged 75)
Occupation	Judoka
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Sport
Country	Japan
Sport	Judo
Weight class	‍–‍80 kg, Open
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games	(1972)
World Champ.	(1971)
Asian Champ.	(1966)
Medal record
Men's judo
Representing Japan
Olympic Games
World Championships
Asian Championships
Profile at external databases
IJF	54522
JudoInside.com	5476
	Updated on 22 June 2023.

Shinobu Sekine (関根忍, Sekine Shinobu, 20 September 1943 – 18 December 2018) was a Japanese middleweight judoka. He won a gold medal at his only Olympics in 1972.^[1]

Biography[edit]

Sekine was born in Ōarai, Ibaraki, and entered the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department after graduating from Chuo University.^[2] He sought a spot on the Olympic judo team after seeing Isao Okano, a rival judoka also from Ibaraki Prefecture, win gold at the 1964 Summer Olympics. However, judo was not included in the program for the 1968 Summer Olympics, and Sekine entered the Olympics for the first time in 1972 as a 28-year-old veteran after winning the All-Japan Judo Championships that year.^[2] Sekine lost to Oh Seung-Lip of South Korea in the 5th round of the tournament, but won the repechage to face Oh for the second time in the Olympic final. Sekine was forced to fight defensively for most of the match, but in the few remaining seconds, he tried a Tai Otoshi which put his opponent down onto the mat. The two assistant referees were split on the outcome, but the main referee from the Netherlands ruled in favor of Sekine to award him an extremely close decision win.^[2] Oh had been leading in points for most of the match. Sekine retired shortly after winning the Olympic gold medal, and served as a coach and advisor for the All-Japan Judo Federation, and as a referee during the 1996 Summer Olympics. He also worked as an instructor for the Tokyo Police Department, and Heisei International University.^[3]