Mark Berger (judoka)
Encyclopedia
Sensei Mark Berger (born January 3, 1954, in Tchernovitz, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

)http://72.232.38.190/EN/athletes/query/details2.php?id=35074 is a Canadian judoka.

He immigrated to Canada from Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 and East Germany.

Judo career

“He could not speak English back then in the mid 70’s when he arrived here,” said Moe Oye, the coach who took Berger under his wing. “He could sure fight though.” He was big, stocky and powerful at 260 pounds, but those attributes alone do not make an Olympian. Fortunately - Berger had uncanny speed and skill - unusual traits for a husky man. “Mark was so quick and powerful he literally exploded into his technical manoeuvres. Once a man of his stature and skill moved on you, it was game over.”

Berger’s meteoric rise came in 1978, with a gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 performance in the Western Canada Games. His first national medals, bronzes, came a year later in Canada Cup and Openweight championships.

By 1980 Berger was dominating the national scene and earned his first international medal for Canada, a bronze, in the United States Open, where he won the gold in 1982.

Maccabiah Games

Berger, who is Jewish, won a gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in the heavyweight division in the 1981 and 1985 Maccabiah Games
Maccabiah Games
The Maccabiah is an international Jewish athletic event similar to the Olympics held in Israel every four years under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation, affiliated with the Maccabi World Union. The Maccabiah Games is the third largest international sports competition in the world...

 in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

Pan American Games

Berger won a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games, and was voted the province’s Athlete of the Year.

Olympics

In 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics
Los Angeles Olympics
Los Angeles Olympics may refer to:* 1932 Summer Olympics* 1984 Summer Olympics...

, he earned a bronze medal in judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

 in the heavyweight division. He defeated Radomir Kovacevic
Radomir Kovacevic
Radomir Kovačević was a Yugoslav Olympic judoka and coach. He has participated in three Olympics; and is an Olympic medalist. He was well known in judo circles and was close friends with world-famous Japanese judo champion Yasuhiro Yamashita...

 of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 to win the bronze medal.

Hall of Fame

He was inducted in 1994 into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, dedicated to the history of sport in Manitoba and honouring the best in sport. The organization began in 1980 and in 1993, a museum was opened in The Forks...

.http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/1994/mBerger.htm

In 1996 he was inducted into the Judo Canada Hall of Fame.http://www.judocanada.org/english/index.asp?id=487

Miscellaneous

  • Berger is currently a coach in Canada.

  • Berger coached both the men's and women's judo teams at the Maccabiah Games in 2001.

  • He is also an international referee.

  • Berger holds a 6th degree black belt
    Black belt (martial arts)
    In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...

     in Judo, as well as 3-time Master of Sport ranking in Wrestling, and has placed 2nd in the World Sambo
    Sambo (martial art)
    Sambo is a Russian martial art and combat sport. The word "SAMBO" is an acronym for SAMooborona Bez Oruzhiya, which literally translates as "self-defense without weapons". Sambo is relatively modern since its development began in the early 1920s by the Soviet Red Army to improve their hand to hand...

     Championships.

  • Berger is currently teaching in Ralph Brown School as a gym teacher.

External links


See also

  • Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
    Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
    The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, dedicated to the history of sport in Manitoba and honouring the best in sport. The organization began in 1980 and in 1993, a museum was opened in The Forks...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK