The European Judo Family is sad to announce the loss of one of our heroes and judo legends Willem Ruska from the Netherlands.
Ruska won the first of his seven European Championship gold medals in 1966. One year later he won the first of two world championship gold medals. At the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 Ruska won both the Over 93kg category and the Open weight. He was inducted into the IJF Hall of Fame in 2013.
In memory and as a mark of respect to this great champion a minute’s silence was observed on Saturday at the European Open staged in Oberwart, Austria.