Ryoko Damura, Judo Queen of Japan

"Judo Queen" Ryoko Damura (27, Japan) is still up and strong.

Last year, she suffered a knee injury. In April this year, she failed to win the championship of the Japan. Encountering the news, many Japanese people thought that she was over the hill.

But the news was not just for the Japanese. It was also a shock to the world judo practitioners. Then, who is Damura? When she was 17 in 1992, she won the silver medal in the Barcelona Olympics. Then, in 1993 and 1995, she won the World Championship twice. In short, she was a judo queen of the century.

Until she was defeated by North Korea`s Kye Soon-hee in the final of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, she recorded an 80-game winning streak. She came back, however, and won the World Championship in 1997 and 1998, and the gold medal in 2000 Sidney Olympics. Yet again in 2001, she grabbed the World Championship. In total, she has won the World Championship five times, a record that has not been challenged so far.

But she got into a slump from last year. During training, she got injured in her right knee, and lost the Japanese championship in April, failing to secure her spot in the Busan Asian Games.

Damura did not stay in the slump. She returned and won the International Women`s Judo Championship that ended on Dec. 8th in Japan. In the final, she beat a fellow Japanese player, the gold medal winner in the Busan Asian Games. Up her way up to the final, she also took on strong opponents and beat them all.

By winning this game, she made another record: 12 times of participation and 12 victories. Moreover, she recorded 204 wins (5 losses) with 97.6% winning rate. After the championship, she said, "To achieve the championship, you first have to fight with yourself and win. For the past four months, I`ve done all I could do. I think that paid off."

She plans to tie the knot next spring with a baseball player who she has been dating for two years. She will have another challenge next year, aiming at her sixth winning of the World Championship, and second gold medal at the Olympics.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com