Kaori Matsumoto (松本 薫, Matsumoto Kaori, born 11 September 1987 in Kanazawa) is a retired Japanese judoka.[1][2]
Career
editKaori Matsumoto started Judo at the age of 6.[3] Iwai Judo Juku, the school she attended, also worked on wrestling once a week.[1] Therefore, she brought a stance of leaning forward, similar to that of wrestling, to judo.[1] As an elementary school student, she won medals at national wrestling competitions.[1] In judo, she won her first national tournament in her senior year of junior high school.[1]
Her favorite techniques are Kosoto gari, Sode tsurikomi goshi and Newaza.[1] She broke her right shoulder during high school, her nasal bone and right elbow during college, and her right hand during the 2009 world championship due to an unbalanced diet and finished fifth. After those events, she began to control her eating habits and learned the importance of food education. She then won the International Conventions championship 7 times in a row, from the World Masters of January 2010 to the Grand Slam Tokyo of December 2010.
She won the gold medal in the lightweight (57 kg) division at the 2010 World Judo Championships. In August 2011, she finished third at the World Championships in Paris.[1] In December, she won the gold medal at the Grand Slam Tokyo.
In 2012, Kaori won gold medals at the Masters in January and at the Düsseldorf Grand Prix in February. The same year, Kaori Matsumoto won gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics over Romanian Corina Căprioriu after the latter was disqualified during the golden score period in the women's -57 kg final, winning Japan's first gold medal of the 2012 games and their only gold in the Judo event.[2][4][5]
After 2012 Summer Olympics, she started to do volunteer work for kids in Japan.[6] Kaori Matsumoto voiced a motorcycle policewoman modeled after her in the 2013 movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.[7]
On 26 August 2015 she won the gold medal in the under 57 kg woman's division at the 2015 World Judo Championships in Kazakhstan.[8]
She finished third at the 2016 Olympics.[2]
She retired in 2019.[2]
She is married with two children.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g ""獲物"は連続金！松本薫 野獣の原点は愛のスパルタ岩井塾" [Trying to win gold in a row! Kaori Matsumoto: The origin of the Beast is the Spartan Iwai School accompanied by love]. Sports Nippon (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "松本薫さん第2子長男出産「一緒に成長できるよう」" [Kaori Matsumoto gave birth to her second child, her first son, "I hope I can grow up with them"]. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
- ^ "新歓！期待の新人特集 帝大の柔ちゃん、世界目指す／帝大 ＜柔道部・松本薫＞". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ "Olympic judo: Japan's Kaori Matsumoto takes -57kg judo gold". Retrieved 30 July 2012.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Kaori Matsumoto". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
- ^ 読み聞かせも金！松本薫選手がボランティア 読売新聞オンライン。
- ^ Natalie article, January 2013
- ^ Women's 57 kg results
External links
edit- Kaori Matsumoto at the International Judo Federation
- Kaori Matsumoto at JudoInside.com
- Kaori Matsumoto at AllJudo.net (in French)
- Kaori Matsumoto at Olympics.com
- Kaori Matsumoto at Olympedia
- Kaori Matsumoto at The-Sports.org
