YouTube: Vladimir Putin Doing Judo

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[akiy]

From YouTube: Russian president Vladimir Putin doing judo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c3wzbtyikw

-- Jun

[dps]

From YouTube: Russian president Vladimir Putin doing judo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c3wzbtyikw

-- Jun

Do you think he gets special treatment, you know, former head of KGB and Prime Minister of Russia?

David

[John Connolly]

This video shows nothing but cooperative uchikomi practice. His form looks good to me, but we'd have to see him in randori/shiai to see if he's a competent Judo player. I highly doubt he's going to be anywhere near Olympic level, as is suggested by the title of the video.

[Kevin Leavitt]

I agree with your assessment John.

[bob_stra]

This video shows nothing but cooperative uchikomi practice. His form looks good to me, but we'd have to see him in randori/shiai to see if he's a competent Judo player. I highly doubt he's going to be anywhere near Olympic level, as is suggested by the title of the video.

Oh I don't know. You can see by his entries, uke control, execution etc that his level of judo is pretty dang good. For example, the execution osoto gari and ouchi gari against the heavy weight suggest knowledge of how to make those techs work against someone of different height/weight: they're on the fly adaptive

Someone who does 'good competitive judo' has a lot of the same tells.

As you rightly point out, we don't see Putin engage in any randori, grip fighting etc. Nor does his competitive career appear on www.judoinside.com Finally, at age 57, he's probably a little long in the tooth for a sport in which the peak is 18-25 :S

So, yeah - it's likely just some media buzz. Or maybe they meant World Masters games?

Good judo though: to my eye, he's still very 'judo strong';

[Mark Kruger]

"Putin placed third place in the Russian Junior Nationals and was Leningrad Seniors Champion."

Taken from: http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=167

I suspect that he is competent. I doubt that he is Olympic grade material given his age and other commitments.

[Kevin Leavitt]

No doubt that he is comtpetent. Just that there is World Class..and everyone else. He is probably at the top end of "everyone else"

[Mark Kruger]

No doubt that he is comtpetent. Just that there is World Class..and everyone else. He is probably at the top end of "everyone else"

You are very charitable. I'd put younger and more focused national and regional champions at the top end of "everyone else".

[akiy]

Here's a response to Vladimir Putin's recent judo "exhibition" from 70-year old "grannies" in an aikido class in Novosibirsk (includes a video clip):

http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-12-26/babushkas-putin-martial-arts.html

From the article: "Vladimir Putin! We invite you to come here. We can show you what we have learned," says Lyudmila Ignatenko, aikido class student. "You know, once a Japanese guy came here -- I knocked him out. Why not try it with Putin?"

-- Jun

[OwlMatt]

Everything I've heard and seen points to Putin being a very competent practitioner of judo (judoist?), but the video is clearly going overboard with all the Olympic nonsense.