<mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net> wrote in message
news:chj4ic$9q3$1@news.Stanford.EDU...
> Looks like they tend to take the wrestlers who don't make their national
> team and try them out in judo (and quite possibly vice versa)

At the least, most of the North Americans, Europeans, and former Soviet
countries have wrestling backgrounds. Whether they are wrestling washouts is
harder to say.

> throws. Similarly, if a cheesy throw that would get you strangled in
> BJJ can cost you a gold, there's that much less incentive to stand up
> and expose yourself.

I think this is improving though, since a non-aggressive stance will get you
slapped with a shidou pretty quickly now. There is still the problem of "win
on a cheesy koka syndrome," but when you are forced to be aggressive you
also need to get bigger scores, because you are open to bigger scores by
your opponent.

> Damn shame, really, though. I swear, the very best mat work book I've
> ever seen is Okano's _Vital Judo_. Even disregarding the pins for my
> sport, it's the most useful for showing various chokes and armbars (no
> wristlocks, of course, but one cannot expect to have everything.)

A lot of judo guys -- and probably even a lot of the guys in the olympics -- 
are very strong on the mat. The fact that newaza is marginalized in
competition tends to reduce its focus in training, but that has been true
since the first "judo vs. jujitsu" tournaments.

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom
ryang@gol.com