http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nl3wIRWJLE

I believe Komuro and his kata partner also took gold (nage no kata).

good stuff

Why do judo people fall on each other when throwing during competition? Is that some crazy lack of skill or are they trying to pin? I'm only wondering cause the potential for injury seems pretty high.

At that level of competition it is certainly not due to a lack of skill. They are called sacrifice throws, and have certain advantages in the context of Judo competition... 1 being it can allow for a smooth transition into mat work, another being you can land on the person and sometimes knock the wind out of them, and another being you can devote 100% of your body weight into driving the opponent into the ground...

You do not get to the higher levels of Judo competition (olympics, worlds etc...) with low level or even medium level throwing ability.

It seems foolish. Knocking the wind out of someone and risk breaking their ribs? It's dumb unless the winner s getting a million bucks at the end.

Yeah, it does seem foolish. Like putting on some gloves and trying to knock out your opponent, or hitting each other w/sticks. I thought this was a martial arts forum?

In all seriousness, most high-level judo tournaments have the mats propped up on a wooden platform, giving them extra give. Another thing that makes the landing easier is the fact that when throwing someone, the goal isn't to land on them, but to throw the opponent on their back. That is where most of the energy of the throw goes, not on jumping on your opponent's chest. More injuries happen when the person being thrown resists the throw. Actually, in men's international competition, most injuries occur during grip fighting (broken fingers). So it's safer than it looks.

Abdullah, good point about the goal being to throw the person on their back and not landing on their chest.

I'd add that a lot of high level Judoka are very good at twisting or cart wheeling out of throws, so a sacrifice throw where you are in constant contact with the person all the way down to the ground can give you extra control over your opponent.

They're good at getting out of throws because they train those escapes. I'm guessing you've never trained the cartwheel escape for tomoe nage?

I have.

Nice armbar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeSPnBBc4yQ

Can't remember ever seeing that applied in competition.

awesome

Saw a guy try a cartwheel escape and he broke his arm. Not the safest escape plan.

Sacrifice throws are good too, but its too funny when someone tries to do a tomoenagi and they ippon themselves. lol.

Wow, some really good judokas in this vid.