The Shintaro Higashi Show - Olympic Qualification Finally! | The Shintaro Higashi Show

Episode Date: February 28, 2026

In this episode, Shintaro and David Kim discuss the latest updates on Olympic qualifications for judo in the United States. They explore the new criteria set by the IJF, the excitement of having a full team, and the implications of using existing events for evaluation. The conversation also touches on the rise of older competitors in judo and the potential drama surrounding the qualification process. They conclude by reflecting on the unique opportunities this year presents for athletes aiming for the Olympics.00:00 Olympic Qualification Overview03:00 Evaluation Criteria and Trials06:01 The Rise of Older Competitors08:57 The Drama of Qualification12:10 Future Prospects and Contenders🚨 LIMITED-TIME OFFER: 40% OFF 🚨The All-in-One Instructional Bundle just got even better.Every major instructional. One complete system. Now at our biggest discount yet.Grab yours now at 40% off : https://higashibrand.com/products/all-instructionalsThis won’t last. Build your game today.🔥 Get 20% OFF FUJI Gear! 🔥Looking to level up your judo training with the best gear? FUJI Sports has you covered. Use my exclusive link to grab 20% OFF high-quality gis, belts, bags, and more.👉 https://www.fujisports.com/JUDOSHINTARO 👈No code needed – just click and save!Links:🇯🇵 Kokushi Budo Institute (The Dojo) Class Schedule in New York, NY 🗽: https://www.kokushibudo.com/schedule🇯🇵 Higashi Brand Merch & Instructionals: https://www.higashibrand.com📚 Shintari Higashi x BJJ Fanatics Judo Courses & Instructionals Collection: https://bjjfanatics.com/collections/shintaro-higashi/

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Welcome back to the Shantorna Higashi show with David Kim. How are you doing? Very good, great. good and yeah today we're going to talk about Olympic qualifications it's out for the United States yeah it's been a while I know people have been like chomping at the bit to get those yeah you know get those rules you know in their hands so what's what's the latest well so the latest is you can directly qualify for the Olympics by the IJF criteria which is 17th in the world you know and there's wild cards this and that all that

everyone knows that qualification system the other one is a trial-based system. So if someone like at 73 kilograms qualifies directly, that weight class is already full, that person's going. Yeah. Two people directly qualify. Those two will have a best two or three, that kind of situation.

They'll fight it out, right? Actually, don't quote me on that part. But if no one directly qualifies, they'll have an eight-person Olympic trials, which is very exciting. Which is likely, right, because there are going to be a lot of spots where people are not in the top.

Every weight class, men and women will qualify for the Olympics. And the problem of last time there was an Olympics was that only three or four people qualify for the United States because the international criteria for qualifications is so difficult. Yeah, so stringent. Yeah. Back in the day, all you had to do was your weight class

had to qualify by being someone have to be top six in the Pan Ams. And then the weight class directly qualifies. And then the U.S. judo decides how they're going to send who. So that was like a thing. Like majority of the weight classes were qualified. And then I think in the last 20 years or so, the IJF were like, all right, we're going to decide. There's a direct qualification system.

Now the U.S. just doesn't decide. And now it's much, much, much more difficult now to qualify for the Olympics. And then, like I said, you know, last time only four people, three or four people went to the Olympics for the U.S. Yeah. But this time, right? Seven men, seven women, 14 slots. That's amazing.

You know, so this is a great opportunity. Full team, yeah, full team. Full team, full team, yeah. So kind of scary, kind of exciting. And here's the criteria for the eight-person trial. You ready for this one? Let's hear it. They're going to use international events as obviously evaluation.

You know, so they're watching who did what, you know, this person's went in here, that person's went in here, this person's kind of, right? This is USA judo who's doing this. He's going to watch how people do on the international circuit. Yep. And then they're going to use three events sort of as evaluatory. What is the word? Evaluatory.

Evaluation. Evaluation-ish tournament. It's going to be President's Cup in November this year. Uh-huh. And then the two national championships coming up. Not this one. So they're using existing events to have people fight it out. They said they can use existing events to evaluate athletes to be in the top eight.

And, you know, they don't have a point system or anything like that, right? So it just said evaluate. So, you know, whatever that means, you know. I guess if you win President's Cup, maybe you'll be considered for a slot, you know, who knows? Right. But, you know, that kind of stuff kind of gives me like a little bit of that, you know, couldn't sleep when I heard that. Well, be more specific. What do you mean?

Like, what is keeping you up at night about that whole, that criteria or lack of- Well, you know, let's just say, for instance, I magically lose 30 pounds and I go to the president's cup and I win it. Right. I think I won it before. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see now. Now I see why you're losing sleep. Yes. So it's like, yeah, you know, but then the other side of me is like, Shantaro, you know, you're 41 years old.

Yeah. But the other part of me is like, listen, man, you've won president. Cup before. You won U.S. nationals before. You know, President's Cup, two U.S. nationals. Can you string together three torments and win it and then limp into a trial and then do well? You know, the crazy part of me is like, you can. Yeah. But then my logical side's like, Shandar, you don't even train anymore.

You know, I mean, like, I do run dory, but like, that's not training, you know? Yeah, yeah. That's not the same thing. Hanging out. You know, working out. Yeah. Yeah. It's like baseline type of stuff. stuff. Yeah. I mean, kind of reminds him to Tokuzo, like at the Tokyo Grand Slam, right? It would be kind of, I mean, he's a lot.

He's older than you are, but. Let me tell you something. He could do it also. Yeah. He can do it also. And you know what? This is the thing, right? Like, before he fought on the Tokyo Grand Slam three or four years ago, we would have

been like that. It's crazy. But then he fought in the Tokyo Grand Slam won two or three matches. And then he's been going out there every year. And now it's like, Okay, you still have the ability to do it. Yeah. So, like, why wouldn't he go for President Scott in the two U.S. nationals?

He would. Yeah. He would. He should. Yeah. And that'll be a great story. Can you imagine the entire Olympic team lineup, which is guys in their 40s and 50s? Talk about representing, you know.

Travis comes back at 81. I come back at 90. Tokugel at 100. It's like, wait a minute. The average age for the U.S. Olympic team is. 46? What's going out here? Yeah, yeah, there's something wrong. That's not going to happen.

None of this is going to happen. Yeah, yeah. But it's fun to think about. It's fun to think about. It is fun to think about. You know, because it's like, whenever you do cardio, that's what you think about. Yeah. I know I do.

Just right on the bike thinking. On the bike, this is the shot. You know, LA, 2028, every week class is already qualified. Yeah. I never know. What dreams are made of. Yeah. And you know, let me tell you, man,

they just did a veterans tournament in the New York. Oh, yeah. They call it veterans now because they wanted to reserve the master's label for, like, tennis, the masters in tennis, right? Yeah. Because there's a lot of parallels between international tennis and international judo. You know the system, right? Yep.

So the masters of the veterans, the old people judo tournament, came to New York and they had a record show. They had close to 300 athletes. Oh, nice. Just older guys doing this thing. Yeah. And I thought some of my friends were just going to walk over and destroy everybody because they're good shape in their age. A lot of those guys lost.

Oh. Which means the level of older guys doing judo now has risen. Right. Right. Because I'm not talking just like some of my friends who were just like regular judo hobbyist bombs. I'm talking, these guys were competitors back in the day. Yeah. Right.

And they're like, oh, you know. Like former teammates. Yeah, they should be destroying these guys. Yeah. But no. So it's like, all right, you know, old man judo, right? Not so old. Not so old anymore.

Maybe there's a shot for you. There's a shot for everybody. Yeah. Hey, if they've got a white belt division, I'm happy to go in there right now. You want to make an Olympic team, David? Only someone. Yes, only to mounoges. Any kind of someone put together, you go to monage,

and then you immediately go into your Delahiva guard. Yeah, I'm going right into the Tuna game. I'm going to track her down. Tunora, Delahiva, and then you got a barambolo. Yeah, right. And then you submit all the 20-something-year-old top national American judo guys. Yeah. I don't know.

You ready, David? Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go. Let's do this. You got to make 66, though. 606 kilos 145 pounds Dad dad bought

you know country yeah now that you mentioned this I mean just to take it away from just you know

older people or Tokuzo or anything but it does feel like there is room for some like gaming

here by people yes right like there's a lot of gaming it may not really and it also

is interesting because it may not really like it may not increase the U.S. chances of meddling, right? Even with Tokuzo, like, he's at the Grand Slam. Like, he's, you know, working out with his guys at 10.

You know, beforehand, like, he's training and he's in great shape. You know, is there someone at his weight class right now that is like, okay? Yeah, 100 kilograms. There's this kid, Daniel Lubemuski, from actually New Jersey at Colton's gym. Oh, so you know him. Like, I know. I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, you know, I can't definitively say Daniel will beat him. Yeah. You know? But it's, Daniel's young and tough, you know. Yeah. It's hard to say, right? But it's not like Tokuzzo is not in the mix. You know, he can be, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Interesting. So, you know, it's kind of exciting to see this. And then, guys, don't quote me on the. the criteria, the exact, it's on the USA

Guto website on the front page. So don't come after me, you know, maybe I misspoke, maybe President's sculpts not in November, maybe it's in October, don't quote me on this thing, go look at the thing yourself. Don't take my information. Right, hard values. Do your own research.

Yeah, do your own research, yes. Yeah. Oh my God. But nonetheless, man, it's exciting, you know, to know what the path is. And it's a very unique year because it's the easiest year to make an Olympic team since like, I'm talking like 2008. Yeah.

The last time the U.S. had an Olympic trials is in 2008. I fought in that Olympic trial. Yeah. You know, I lost. It was a top eight thing, and I was like six or something like that. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

And I lost, you know, but, you know, even that year, like Adler-Vormar won the trials and he went to the Olympics. And I won, I beat him maybe twice in the, you know, time preceding the year before the Olympic trials. Right. So, you know, and then after that, you know, 2012, 2016, trying to make it internationally, very, very difficult. The qualifier just got extremely difficult.

I was 43rd. But, like, you couldn't even say it was close almost because, like, and there's gaming too, right? You go to certain events in, like, Africa that are not as tough. You go to, I went to Samoa to gain some points. You know, some of the oceanic tournament is not as tough, you know. But really what it came down to, like, you talk about the. game was you have to make a Pan-Nan team and win a Pan-N tournament and then you get these crazy

amount of points and then you qualify for the Olympics. But it wasn't, it's never going to be as easy as it is now to make an Olympic team. Yeah, no, 100%. Because even back then, I mean, if, like, you're going to the quote-unquote easier tournaments to try, you know, just give yourself an opportunity, right? You know, those aren't easy either, right? No. I mean, like, like, people were trying to kill you there too.

used to be World Cup Grand Prix, Grand Slam. And the differential than points were like 100, 200, 300 for winners. Right. So it wasn't too much. So then you could go to all these like minor World Cup events that gain a bunch of points and then stack it up and not be exposed at the Paris Grand Slam of the Tokyo Grand Slam. But now it's called the Continental Open. Yeah. Grand Prix is up here.

and then Grand Slam's up here. So it's like, it's very difficult. The point differential is in ratio with the difficulty of the events. Not in ratio. What is a word? Proportional. Proportional, yes, there you go. That's why you went to Harvard.

And I did not. Good word. Yeah. Good word, yeah. Good math. Science. Okay. So it's still early days.

on this qualification stuff, but it does seem like it feels like there'll be a lot of drama though, because who the hell knows? Because the drama. Like who's going to come out? Who's going to, you know, secure that spot? So I actually think it might be interesting to

kind of follow this story. To evaluate you based on these events. Yeah. You know what I mean? I could go and win it, but then be like, oh, according to your evaluation, you know, you've got a stroke, have knee surgery, you're old, we're not going to let you fight the trials. That can happen.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it is squishy. It is squishy. It is. But it's something. And they put it out there.

So we're pretty happy about that. Thank God. Thank God. It gave us just enough to be happy. I'm happy. I'm sure somebody's pissed. Somebody's pissed. Everybody's a little bit pissed off.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, best wishes to the USA judo team. you're doing God's work. So, you know, only the best to you guys who are trying to make it. All right. Yep.

Well, cool. We'll keep an eye on that. And keep on trucking down this judo road. Maybe in a later episode, we can go through some of the likely guys or some of the contenders who are going to try and make that spot. Yeah.

All right. Cool. Well, thank you guys. We'll get you in the next episode. Yep.