“I was lost at first, about not being a competitor. Should I continue my judo life or start again and change to a new life? I had no chance to do the latter though. Everyone was hoping I would continue to the next Olympic Games, in Paris.
I tried to practise every day but there was a lot of stress coming through this period. At the Tokyo Games, if I had stress I would practise and get rid of that stress but practise after the Games didn’t get rid of it in the same way. I am not sure why I couldn’t do it. I thought I had to practise everyday because everyone put pressure on me and hoped I would stay in judo but it was impossible for me. I wanted to perform in competition still but also, both before and after Games, there was Covid and so there was no audience and that was important for me too. I wanted to show my judo self always, like my Tokyo Games self. I wanted to show people that my judo style is complete and do so by winning the Games."
"In Paris there will be a lot of judo fans and so of course I would have liked to have shown them my judo too. I wanted to challenge myself one more time but because my heart was emptied and felt finished, it was not easy at all.
There were only three years from Tokyo to Paris. If it was four years, I could have had a break for one year and then start again in time but three years was just too short to give me the break I needed.
I felt pressure from national team coaches to come back but the break was very important for me. I had 6 months out and spent private time with friends and enjoyed some travelling to nice places but the pressure on me was never released.
When I was back in the dojo at Tenri I couldn’t do randori very well. It was ok but I felt quite negative; my mind wasn’t right. That feeling stayed in me. I used to live in Kodogakusya and this place was built specifically to help improve judo in Japan after Geesink won in 1964 against Kaminaga."
"Sometimes I feel like ‘the Last Samurai.’ There is a line between the first and the last Olympic Games and I feel connected to them both. Kodogakusya was built because of the first and I was the last to come from there; it is now closed and so that circular story was important. With that in my mind also, I could not really think about Paris. To stop in Tokyo was to complete a beautiful story."
"I was competing in IJF events as a national team member for more than ten years, since the London Games. I joined the seniors after the junior worlds in South Africa, where I won."
"I couldn’t win senior categories at first but after London I won the Kodokan Cup and Tokyo Grand Slam and then the next year, in 2013, I won the worlds in Rio, my first senior world title."
"Kosei Inoue was head coach there, the first time for him too. His head coach history is the same as my national team history. Suzuki is also a great head coach but, again, to stay would have broken that story. Inoue and I came through that period together in our respective roles."
"I was proud of making judo history during those ten years. I wanted to show my judo style and wanted to make the IJF judo rules improve more by showing my best, showing what is possible. I wanted to be like a text book. For example, people outside judo may ask ‘what is judo?’ and I would like to be used to show the correct judo style, to be an exemplar.
Like this:
Beautiful judo? Shohei Ono.
Correct judo? Shohei Ono.
Strong judo? Shohei Ono.
This has also been my goal.
My teammates often stole my techniques like a gripping style in the arm pit or other things. Judo children take my osoto-gari or uchi-mata and I watch them in seminars and can see my style and this makes me happy.”
It is clear that to be the best can be complicated and it is a very challenging life to step away from. Shohei Ono is still reflecting and analysing and coming to terms with a new kind of daily schedule. However, at this time he remains a big part of the worldwide judo community, whether as an exemplar, a coach, an inspiration.
“It’s ok to be finished but I am sad because my technique is deteriorating. It’s normal but is still strange for me.
I would like to experience other things in life now but I always want to keep my connection to judo. I appreciate Tenri University and also my sponsors and I want to return their support to them; it is my commitment. Asahikasei is my sponsor; it is important to appreciate them.
I will return as a judo coach in Tenri. I am in Scotland now but I am also a coach for Tenri. I am asked a lot if I will be a national team coach but I am not sure about this longer term and right now I don’t want that. I am happy to be a coach for my company and for Tenri. I will live back in Tenri and move to different places sometimes and this will give me the chance to travel and learn and teach and for now this is correct for me.”
To travel, to learn and to teach are three occupations which have their core in the origins of judo so it is fitting that one of the greatest judoka ever is living this way. It is aligned and feels circular, just like the story of Ono’s competitive career, as he described it.