Kaori Matsumoto facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Kaori Matsumoto

Personal information
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1987-09-11) 11 September 1987 (age 36)
Died	Not recognized as a date. Years must have 4 digits (use leading zeros for years < 1000). (aged Error: Need valid year, month, day)
Occupation	Judoka
Sport
Country	Japan
Sport	Judo
Weight class	–57 kg
Achievements and titles
World finals	(2010, 2015)
Regional finals	(2008, 2010)
Olympic finals	(2012)
Medal record Women's judo Representing  Japan Olympic Games Gold 2012 London ‍–‍57 kg Bronze 2016 Rio de Janeiro ‍–‍57 kg World Championships Gold 2010 Tokyo ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2015 Astana ‍–‍57 kg Bronze 2011 Paris ‍–‍57 kg Asian Games Gold 2010 Guangzhou ‍–‍57 kg Asian Championships Gold 2008 Jeju ‍–‍57 kg World Masters Gold 2010 Suwon ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2012 Almaty ‍–‍57 kg Silver 2011 Baku ‍–‍57 kg IJF Grand Slam Gold 2008 Tokyo ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2009 Moscow ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2010 Paris ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2010 Rio de Janeiro ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2010 Tokyo ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2011 Tokyo ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2014 Tokyo ‍–‍57 kg Silver 2009 Tokyo ‍–‍57 kg Bronze 2009 Paris ‍–‍57 kg IJF Grand Prix Gold 2010 Düsseldorf ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2012 Düsseldorf ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2014 Düsseldorf ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2014 Budapest ‍–‍57 kg Gold 2016 Düsseldorf ‍–‍57 kg Silver 2011 Düsseldorf ‍–‍57 kg Bronze 2009 Hamburg ‍–‍57 kg Bronze 2015 Ulaanbaatar ‍–‍57 kg
Updated on 24 May 2023.

Kaori Matsumoto (松本 薫, Matsumoto Kaori, born 11 September 1987 in Kanazawa) is a retired Japanese judoka.

Career

Kaori Matsumoto started Judo at the age of 6. Iwai Judo Juku, the school she attended, also worked on Wrestling once a week. Therefore, she brought a stance of leaning forward, similar to that of wrestling, to judo. As an elementary school student, she won medals at national wrestling competitions. In judo, she won her first national tournament when she was in her senior year of junior high school.

Her favorite techniques are Kosoto gari, Sode tsurikomi goshi and Newaza. She broke her right shoulder during high school, her nasal bone and right elbow during college, and her right hand during the 2009 world championship due to an unbalanced diet and finished fifth. After those events, she began to control her eating habits and learned the importance of food education. She then won the International Conventions championship 7 times in a row, from the World Masters of January 2010 to the Grand Slam Tokyo of December 2010.

She won the gold medal in the lightweight (57 kg) division at the 2010 World Judo Championships. In August 2011, she finished third at the World Championships in Paris. In December, she won the gold medal at the Grand Slam Tokyo.

In 2012, Kaori won gold medals at the Masters in January and at the Düsseldorf Grand Prix in February. The same year, Kaori Matsumoto won gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics over Romanian Corina Căprioriu after the latter was disqualified during the golden score period in the women's -57 kg final, winning Japan's first gold medal of the 2012 games and their only gold in the Judo event.

After 2012 Summer Olympics, she started to do volunteer work for kids in Japan. Kaori Matsumoto voiced a motorcycle policewoman modeled after her in the 2013 movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.

On 26 August 2015 she won the gold medal in the under 57 kg woman's division at the 2015 World Judo Championships in Kazakhstan.

She finished third at the 2016 Olympics.

She retired in 2019.

She is married with two children.

See also

In Spanish: Kaori Matsumoto para niños