Chiaki Ishii, the first judoka to put Brazil on an Olympic podium, died on Friday (16) at the age of 85. The Confederação Brasileira de Judô (CBJ, the Brazilian Judo Confederation) confirmed the death and did not give a cause.
He was also Brazil's first medallist at a world judo championship: in 1971, in Ludwigshafen, then in West Germany, he took bronze in the up-to-93kg category. The following year, at the Munich Games, he won bronze again — Brazilian judo's first Olympic medal, in what is today the country's biggest source of Olympic medals.
From Japan to Presidente Prudente
Ishii was born in Ashikaga, Japan. In 1964, aged 22, he failed to qualify for the Japanese team for the Tokyo Games and decided to emigrate. In Brazil he first worked as a farmer in a Japanese colony in Presidente Prudente, in the interior of São Paulo state, before returning to competition. He became a naturalised Brazilian in 1969 — three years before Munich.
Beyond his world and Olympic podiums, he was a four-time Pan American Games champion, according to Agência Brasil, and also collected South American titles.
What he left on the mat
After retiring as an athlete, Ishii ran a gym in Lapa, in São Paulo, where he trained Walter Carmona and Rafael "Baby" Silva — both of them Olympic medallists as well. His daughters, Tânia Chie Ishii and Vânia Yukie Ishii, also judokas, represented Brazil at Barcelona 1992, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.
He was a member of the Comitê Olímpico do Brasil (COB, the Brazilian Olympic Committee) Hall of Fame, received the Adhemar Ferreira da Silva Trophy in 2023, held the rank of 9th dan Kodansha and the CBJ's Order of Merit.
The tributes
CBJ president Paulo Wanderley said Ishii "acreditou no potencial do Brasil" ("believed in Brazil's potential") and that his legacy lives on in the athletes he trained. The federation spoke of an "incalculable legacy" on and off the mat. The COB said his legacy "goes far beyond his results as an athlete" and offered condolences to his family, friends and students.
With information from Agência Brasil, the CBJ and ND Mais.
