Jindřich Kaděra

"[The opponent] was this rusty, almost six-foot-tall guy. I was a hundred and twenty kilos, I was a heavyweight. And he was even bigger and even stronger. Well, he hugged me right away, saying we're going to fight. I started talking to him in Russian, he didn't speak Russian. He was like some exiled bear from the wilderness. And he had no idea what judo was or anything... Fighting. I didn't know. And he... I'll digress - I had to go with him to some cafeteria in that Russian hall. There's four pints of bottled beer that we have to have. Now, imagine he took it, the bottle, grabbed it with his fingernails and [the witness demonstrates the sound of opening the beer]... No opener. I'm thinking, jeez, he's going to kill me. He was bleeding. Oh, it was horrible. That's what happened. He didn't know what judo was, so when they gave the command 'fight', in Russian, he grabbed me by the hair and hit me so hard in the back of the head with his fist and forearm that I lost consciousness. Which wasn't enough. That's what they told me afterwards. He grabbed me by the hair and he started to loot me all over the wrestling floor, it was some kind of coarse fabric, and my whole face was completely covered. And they couldn't get him off me. The referee was yelling. He just kept going. So they had to jump at him. I was the winner because he was..." - "Disqualified?" - "Yes, he was disqualified. So I walked away in celebration."

"Today it is different. Back then, they didn't do the fine art route to win some tournaments. It was a little bit different, it was a gaggle of enthusiasts. People from different professions in the country did it, it wasn't just athletes. They were all amateurs and they made a living [in other ways]. It was full of actors, politicians, artists, professionals of different professions. When we were riding on trains somewhere for a long time, many many many hours, we became so friendly that the doctors - you may remember the name of our and my good friend, Rajko Dolecek. Does that name mean anything to you? [nodding] So he was also a judoka, he was my pupil. And as he told about his profession, and anybody else from other professions. I was also asked about what I was doing. So such a wonderful atmosphere, no backstabbing, everything perfect. And when I beat someone, I apologized. I always said, and I still say it to this day, what it gave me - me personally, and I feel that in everything - most of all what it gave me in my life, I learned to be careful: to lose. That is an art. Winning is easy. But to lose, to get angry and start over, to do it again next time... [to] win and not lose. That's true in life everywhere. Somebody loses and gets knocked down. No, we judo players keep going."