Radomir Kovačević (20 March 1954 in

Drvar Drvar (, ) is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Drvar in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the road between Bosansko Grahovo an ...

— 14 June 2006 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

) was a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

ian and Yugoslav Olympic

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 ...

and coach. He participated in three Olympic Games (

Montreal 1976 The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal w ...

Moscow 1980 The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

and

Los Angeles 1984 The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

) and was an

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold medal, gold, silver medal, silver, and bronze medal, bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respect ...

ist. He was well known in judo circles and was close friends with world-famous Japanese judo champion

Yasuhiro Yamashita is a Japanese judoka. He currently works as an instructor or advisor for numerous organizations, including Tokai University, the International Judo Federation, and the All Japan Judo Federation. He retired from competitive judo on 17 June 1985 ...

. He was a member of the NYC 2012 Olympic Bid Committee.

Biography

Radomir Kovačević was born in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

on 20 March 1954. His father was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veteran. Kovačević grew up in and began practicing sports in Drvar. He started Track and Field in 1967, at the age of thirteen. By age fifteen he tried

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, but said "I was very angry because regardless of how good I was, my opponent always scored." The very next year Kovačević became a wrestler in the

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

style in which one is only allowed to use the upper half of his body. In one year, he became champion of Yugoslavia, which was quite an accomplishment, considering that Yugoslavia was a world powerhouse in wrestling, at the time. In the summer of 1971, after wrestling practice, Kovačević had decided to change sports yet again, when he saw small Japanese man "throwing people like paper airplanes", as he put it, at a local

Judo 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 ...

club. The same day he resigned from his wrestling club and joined the judo club. After training for six months at that club he managed to throw the Japanese on one knee. On the spot, the Japanese offered to send him to Japan to study judo. Two days later, he was flown off to Japan, where he enrolled in

Tokai University is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae. It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai Uni ...

and continued to practice Judo. He competed for the college and on his fourth year became captain of the judo team. He was one of the few foreigners to become captain of a Japanese judo team. During his time in Japan he also gained interest in Eastern religion and philosophy. In 1980, he became a bronze-medalist at the Moscow Olympics. He was a coach at

The Dwight School Dwight School is a private independent for-profit college preparatory school located on Manhattan's Upper West Side in New York City. Dwight offers the International Baccalaureate curriculum to students ages two through grade twelve. History Fou ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and trained many champions in various sports including wrestling, tennis, basketball, and sailing, among others. Starting in the late 1990s, Kovačević held a three-to-four-hour-long Judo class on Saturdays at the Spartak Judo Club, in

Forest Hills Forest Hills or Forrest Hills may refer to: Places United States * Forest Hills (Tampa), Florida * Forest Hills, Illinois, a neighborhood in Western Springs * Forest Hills, Kentucky * Forest Hills, Boston, Massachusetts ** Forest Hills Cemetery ...

. Despite the fact that the classes were usually between three and seven people full they were effective in building and attracting champion judo players.

Death

On 15 June 2006, after eighteen months of fighting

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, Kovačević died in

. He was cremated and his ashes were divided into two urns. One stayed in Belgrade while the other one was taken to

Tōkai University is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae. It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai Uni ...

in Tokyo.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacevic, Radomir 1954 births 2006 deaths Tokai University alumni Yugoslav male judoka Serbian male judoka Judoka trainers Olympic judoka for Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in judo Olympic bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Judoka at the 1976 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1980 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Deaths from cancer in Serbia Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina People from Drvar Sportspeople from Canton 10