Kazuhiro Ninomiya

Kazuhiro Ninomiya
Medal record
Representing Japan
Men's judo
Olympic Games
World Championships
Asian Championships

Kazuhiro Ninomiya (二宮和弘, Ninomiya Kazuhiro, born November 28, 1946 in Fukuoka, Japan) is a retired judoka who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Biography

After graduating from Tenri University, Ninomiya entered the Shoki Juku under the instruction of Isao Okano.[1] He joined the Fukuoka Prefecture police force in April, 1972,[1] and placed third in the All-Japan Judo Championships that year. He won a gold medal in the heavyweight division of the Asian Judo Championships in 1970, and in the open weight division of the 1973 World Judo Championships held in Lausanne, Switzerland by defeating future Olympic gold medalist Haruki Uemura. He won another gold medal at the 1975 World Championships, and won the All-Japan Judo Championships for the first time in 1976 to qualify for the 1976 Summer Olympics. However, the Japanese Olympic team had already decided on Haruki Uemura and Sumio Endo as the representatives for the open weight and heavyweight divisions, and Ninomiya was forced to enter the competition as a half heavyweight (-93 kg), shedding over 7 kg from his usual competitive weight.[2] Regardless, Ninomiya used his long reach and height (at 6 ft. 2 in., he was considerably tall for a half heavyweight) to become the first Japanese judoka to win a gold medal in the half heavyweight division. He remains the only Japanese judoka to have won an Olympic medal in that division, aside from Kosei Inoue.

Ninomiya retired after competing in the 1978 Jigoro Kano Cup along with Isamu Sonoda.[1] He and Sonoda were rivals and friends for over 30 years, having been born on the same year, entered the same police force, competed in the same World Championships and Olympics, and having retired at the same time.[1] After serving as an advisor for several local and prefectural level judo committees, he became a judo instructor at the Nishinippon Institute of Technology in 2007.[3]