Olympic gold medalist Ono Shohei to train to be judo instructor in Britain

Japanese judoka Ono Shohei, who won gold medals in two straight Olympics, says he will go to Britain on an instructor training program.

Ono said in a news conference on Tuesday that he will train to be an instructor in the Japanese Olympic Committee's program in Britain for two years starting next fiscal year.

Ono, who is 31, is from Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan.

He won gold medals in the men's 73-kilogram category at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the seventh Japanese to win back-to-back golds in judo. Since then, he has not competed in the category.

Ono said he decided to take on a new challenge, and that he hopes judo will help him become an international person.

He said a judoka does not retire, and that training continues for life.

Asked about the Paris Olympics next year, he said there is no judoka that he wants to face in his category. He said he could not find passion in himself to compete after the Tokyo Olympics.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230307_36/