Matt D'Aquino

Matthew D'Aquino (born 26 June 1985 in Canberra) is an Australian judoka, who competed in the extra-lightweight category.[1] He is a 4th Degree Judo Black belt, BJJ black belt under Felipe Grez, two-time Australian judo champion, a multiple-time Oceanian champion for his respective division, and a member of Marist Judo Club under his personal coach Tom Hill, who competed for the men's lightweight division at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and eventually won the gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.[2][3]

Matt D'Aquino
Personal information
Full nameMatthew D'Aquino
Nickname(s)Matt
Nationality Australia
Born (1985-06-26) 26 June 1985
Canberra, Australia
Height1.64 m (5 ft 4 1⁄2 in)
Weight62 kg (137 lb)
Websitewww.beyondgrappling.com
Sport
SportJudo
Event(s)60 kg
ClubBeyond Grappling Club
Coached byThomas Hill
Retired2012
Now coachingBeyond Grappling Club
Achievements and titles
Regional finals3 X Oceania Champion
National finals2 X Australian Champion
Olympic finalsNo place
Highest world ranking19th in the World (2010)

D'Aquino represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he competed for the men's extra-lightweight class (60 kg). He received a bye for the second preliminary round match, before losing out to Greece's Lavrentios Alexanidis, who successfully scored an ippon (full point) and an obi otoshi (belt drop), at ninety seconds.[4][5]

Since then D'Aquino has gone on to be the first and only Australian male to win the Pac Rim Championships in its 40-year history, beating a highly ranked Japanese Judoka in the final.[6] Recently D'Aquino has placed 17th at the World Championships in both 2009 and 2010 as well as placing 7th in the Miami and El Salvador World Cup as well as 7th place in the US Open.

After not qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games D'Aquino retired from international Judo competition but still competes in national level Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions. D'Aquino is also an author of two bestselling books on Amazon, these books are "Hard fought Lessons by an Olympic Judoka" and "Effective goal setting so you can win in life."

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Matthew D'Aquino". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Tom Hill". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  3. Burnett, Mike (31 July 2002). "Pekli edges to victory". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  4. "Men's Extra Lightweight (60kg/132 lbs) Preliminaries". NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  5. "No early joy for Australia's judo competitors". ABC Australia. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  6. | http://www.judoinside.com/event/view/5462/


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