Michael Lee Swain (born December 21, 1960, in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.judoka is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

. He competed in countless international competitions. He is now the VP of Martial Arts at Dollamur, Sports LP where he develops and sells Martial Arts equipment and continues to be a spokesperson and board member for

USA Judo USA Judo (officially known as United States Judo, Inc.) is a non-profit organization which represents all areas of U.S. judo practitioners, including athletes, coaches, referees and others. The organization is managed by a staff of seven at the US ...

Judo success

Swain competed in major international tournaments including four

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

and five

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. He is most known for his historic win in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, becoming the first male judoka from the United States to win a World Championship since its inception in 1956. He also won silver at both the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

and 1989 World Championships, as well as a gold at the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas ...

. He is a four-time Olympian, a five-time World team member and was the 1996 US Olympic Judo coach for the Atlanta Games.

Training and coaching

Throughout his professional judo career, he spent much of his time training in Japan at Nihon University and the Tokyo Police Academy. He also trained internationally in Wimbledon, UK at the Crystal Palace Training Center with Neil Adams, in Kendal, England at the National Judo Training Center, in Seoul, Korea at Yongin University, in Paris, France at INSEP and, in Koln, Germany at the Koln National Judo Training Center. Despite all his travels, Swain continually returned San Jose where he trained under Yoshihiro Uchida, a pioneer for American judo. Swain graduated from

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

in 1985 with a degree in business marketing and continues to this day to coach and bring more students to the program with the Swain Scholarship.

Honors

Swain has been honored for many of his accomplishments as an American judoka. He was named Black Belt Magazine's "competitor of the year" in 1985, as well as Instructor of the year in 1994. In 2003 the USOC honored several athletes who were pioneers in their sports. Swain was honored as a pioneer for USA Judo alongside other athletes such as

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

for boxing and

Dan Gable Danny Mack Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a World gold medalist ...

for wrestling.

Business

In 1987 he founded Swain Sports. He grew the company to become a successful multimillion-dollar, international business at the heart of the martial arts equipment industry. In 2008 he sold his company to Dollamur and became the VP of the Global Martial Arts Division, where he and the company worked together to develop the next generation Flexi-Roll mat. He is the author of two books Ashiwaza II and Championship Judo, as well as the Co-producer of several martial arts shows like Pro Judo, Pro Tae Kwon Do, and Pro Sumo which all have premiered on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. He is the producer of the DVD series Complete Judo, Basic Judo and Basic Grappling.

Personal

Swain's wife Tania Chie Ishii represented Brazil in the

1992 Summer Olympic Games The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, and his father-in-law

Chiaki Ishii is a Japanese Brazilian judoka, who won Brazil's first Olympic medal in Judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 93 kg, judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Career Ishii trained judo since a very young age, at a dojo loc ...

won the bronze medal for Brazil in the

1972 Summer Olympic Games The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

. They live in San Jose with their daughter, Sophia, and a son, Masato, who have grown up doing judo and other sports.

Notes

References

* Swain, Michael ''Ashiwaza II'' Swain's book on ashi-waza, a category of judo throws accomplished with the feet.

External links

* *
Swain Mats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Mike 1960 births Living people American male judoka San Jose State University alumni Sportspeople from Elizabeth, New Jersey Judoka at the 1984 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1988 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for the United States Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in judo Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Campbell, California Summer World University Games medalists in judo Congressional Gold Medal recipients FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the United States Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games medalists in judo Judoka at the 1983 Pan American Games Judoka at the 1987 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in judo Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in judo San Jose State Spartans judoka 20th-century American sportsmen