Willem "Wim" Ruska (29 August 1940 – 14 February 2015) was a Dutch

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

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

. He is the first athlete to win two gold medals in Judo in one

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 ...

– in the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

and

absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk ma ...

categories in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

. He later worked as a professional wrestler in

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

and

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, both as a singles wrestler and as a tag team partner of

Allen Coage Allen James Coage (October 22, 1943 – March 6, 2007) was an American judoka and professional wrestler. He won medals for the United States at several international judo competitions, including the heavyweight bronze medal at the Judo at the 1 ...

Early life

Ruska was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

on August 24, 1940.

Judo career

He started learning judo at the

Dutch Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

, later traveling to Japan for further training. In the 1960s and 1970s, under the training of

Jon Bluming Johannes Cornelius Bluming (6 February 1933 – 17 December 2018) was a Dutch martial artist, instructor and actor. Known as a pioneer in a variety of martial arts, Bluming held 9th dan in Judo, 10th dan in Kyokushinkai Karate and 10th dan in Ha ...

, he won seven European titles, five in the +93 kg category (1966–67, 1969, 1971–72) and two in the open category (1969 and 1972). He furthermore won two world titles (1967 and 1971) and two Olympic titles. His success at the

1972 Summer Olympics 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 ...

was overshadowed by the Munich massacre that took place days before. He retired after the 1972 Olympics and later took part in

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

Professional wrestling career

Ruska competed between 1976 and 1980 for the

and

World Wide Wrestling Federation Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company ...

promotions. He had over 150 pro wrestling matches, in some of which he was the tag team partner of fellow judoka

Match with Ivan Gomes

In 1976, during a tour through Brazil, Ruska was slated to fight a special, high-level bout against Ivan Gomes, a famous

vale tudo Vale Tudo or vale-tudo (; ), also known as No Holds Barred (NHB) in the United States, is an unarmed, full-contact combat sport with relatively few Regulation of sport, rules. It became popular in Brazil during the 20th century and would eventua ...

fighter and former NJPW wrestler himself, on August 7 at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium (, ; named after the Maracanã River), officially known as Jornalista Mário Filho Stadium (, ; , named after Mário Filho), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Located in the Maracanã neighbor ...

. Previous negotiations about the match's results and length were troublesome, and as a result, there was tension between the parts. During the bout, refereed by Mr. Takahashi, Gomes attacked Ruska, attacking him with real strikes and illegal closed-fisted punches, which Ruska answered by landing a similar right punch, and the match became a

shoot Shoot most commonly refers to: * Shoot (botany), an immature plant or portion of a plant * Shooting, the firing of projectile weapons * Photo shoot, a photography session; an event wherein a photographer takes photographs Shoot may also refer t ...

right after. The slightly heavier Brazilian dragged Ruska to the ground with a

guillotine choke The guillotine choke, also known as Mae Hadaka Jime (前裸絞, "front naked choke"; compared to a rear naked choke) in judo, is a chokehold in martial arts applied from in front of the opponent, often on the ground but can also be done while stan ...

, but Ruska escaped and

mounted Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...

him. After becoming entangled with the ring ropes, a bloody Gomes captured Ruska's back and tried a

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC), also known as hadaka jime (裸絞) in Judo and "lion killer choke (Mata Leão)" in BJJ, is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word ''naked'' in this context suggests that, unlike other stra ...

, to which Ruska grabbed the ropes to break action as per the match's rules. However, the Brazilian refused to release Ruska, so the referee, upon observing most of Gomes' body was outside the ropes, called for countout on him in order to end the match at 9:03.Keisuke Shibusawa, ''Gracie Jiu Jitsu no Itsusashu'', 1995, Nihon Sports There was controversy about whether the choke and the rope escape were effective or not.Ken Yanagisawa, ''1976 Antonio Inoki'', 2007Ivan Gomes
BJJ Heroes The event's crowds believed Gomes had been wronged with the decision, and a riot almost broke out until NJPW president

Antonio Inoki (born ; 20 February 1943 – 1 October 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, Glossary of professional wrestling terms#school, professional wrestling trainer, martial arts, martial artist, politician, and Promoter (entertainment), promot ...

came out and calmed them down. Still, repercussion in Brazil was negative, with pundits arguing about who should be considered the victor, even although some acknowledged Gomes had started the affair with an illegal move. As a consequence, the Athletic Commission of Rio de Janeiro banned Takahashi and Ruska from all sport competitions.Shinji Ishii, ''Martial Arts Death Battle - The stormy story of the fools who wanted to be the strongest'', Takarajimasha, 1994 The Japanese considered Ruska the winner, as Gomes had to receive nine stitches around the right eye for damage suffered in the brawl, while Ruska was comparatively in much better condition. It was also reported Inoki secretly gifted Ruska a money bonus to compensate his ban from competing. A 90 seconds excerpt of the brawl was shown in 1995 in NJPW's TV show, World Pro Wrestling. During the show, Inoki compared the match to a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

fight from

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

Late career

Ruska was a close friend to

sambo Sambo may refer to: Places * Sambo, Angola, a commune in Tchicala Tcholohanga, Huambo Province, Angola * Sambo Creek, a village in Honduras People * Ferdy Sambo (born 1973), former Indonesian police general * Khem Sambo (1961–2011), Cambodi ...

world champion Chris Dolman, also a Bluming understudy. They had a falling out after Dolman joined

Akira Maeda (born Go Il-myeong (Hangul: 고일명, Hanja: 高日明), January 24, 1959) is a Japanese mixed martial arts promoter, writer and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Maeda was also known by the ring name Kwik-kik-Lee durin ...

's Fighting Network Rings while Ruska was part of

's New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but they mended it in September 1997, when Inoki visited Holland along with

Naoya Ogawa (born 31 March 1968) is a Japanese world champion judoka, retired professional wrestler, and mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He won a total of seven medals at the All-Japan Judo Championships (second only behind Yasuhiro Yamashita), an ...

. They stayed in contact until Ruska's death in 2015.

Later life

In 2001 Ruska suffered a major stroke which left him physically disabled. In 2013 he was inducted in the Hall of Fame of the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) is the international governing body for judo, founded in July 1951. Today the IJF has 200 National Federations on all continents. There are over 20 million people around the globe who practice judo, accordi ...

. Ruska was admitted to a nursing home in 2014. Ruska died on 14 February 2015 at the age of 74 and was survived by his wife, two children and five grandchildren.

Gallery

File:Wim Ruska 1968.jpg, Ruska in 1968 Wim Ruska with family 1972.jpg, Ruska with family in 1972

References

External links

* * *
Videos of Wim Ruska
on Judovision {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruska, Wim 1940 births 2015 deaths Dutch male judoka Dutch male mixed martial artists Heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Dutch male professional wrestlers Judoka at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Olympic judoka for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in judo Martial artists from Amsterdam World judo champions Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan 20th-century Dutch sportsmen