Robert Van de Walle

Robert Van de Walle
8th Dan

Robert Van de Walle (second from left), gold medalist at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Personal information
Nationality	Belgium
Born	(1954-05-20) May 20, 1954 Ostend, Belgium
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	95 kg (209 lb; 15.0 st)
Medal record Representing Belgium Men's Judo Olympic Games 1980 Moscow -95 kg 1988 Seoul -95 kg World Championships 1979 Paris -95 kg 1981 Maastricht -95 kg 1981 Maastricht Open 1983 Moscow -95 kg 1983 Moscow Open 1985 Seoul -95 kg 1989 Belgrade -95 kg European Championships 1976 Kiev -93 kg 1977 Ludwigshafen -95 kg 1977 Ludwigshafen Open 1978 Helsinki -95 kg 1979 Brussels -95 kg 1979 Brussels Open 1980 Vienna -95 kg 1980 Vienna Open 1981 Debrecen -95 kg 1983 Paris -95 kg 1983 Paris Open 1984 Liege -95 kg 1984 Liege Open 1985 Hamar -95 kg 1986 Belgrade -95 kg 1987 Paris -95 kg 1988 Pamplona -95 kg

Robert Van de Walle (born 20 May 1954) is a Belgian judoka. He was the first judoka to ever compete at five Olympics.

He was born in Ostend.

At the 1980 Summer Olympics he won the gold medal in the men's half-heavyweight category and in 1988, at the relatively late age of 34, he won a second medal: a bronze one in the same category. He competed in his fifth and final Olympics in 1992 at age 38, reaching the quarter finals.

He continued competing successfully at the highest level of competition for several years after that. During his career Van de Walle also captured three European titles: in 1980, 1985 and 1986. Together with Ingrid Berghmans he was the face of Belgian judo in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Bibliography

• (1993) "Pick-ups" Judo Masterclass Techniques Ippon Books

References

• Judo Legends