Two world wars and relative geographic isolation permitted SOMBO to develop uninfluenced by later judo philosophy and technique revisions. Also, in the late 1930s, the Soviet Union took on a siege mentality and recoiled defensively against foreigners and their outside influences. Vasili Oshchepkov with his nidan in judo and contacts in Japan뭩 Kodokan did not survive the purges of 1937.
Eventually, the SOMBists deemed their sport sufficiently perfected to test it on the international scene. The only international style of jacket wrestling was sport judo. When SOMBO fighters emerged from their Soviet isolation onto the mats of the Essen European Judo Championships in 1962, the Old World immediately noticed the similarities between the two fighting systems. The judoka, however, saw so many differences that SOMBists were at best considered unorthodox. Nonetheless, the Soviet team took third place in the event capturing five medals. A. Kiknadze of Tbilisi won the title of Absolute Champion of Europe.
꿌t was the arrival of the Russians?which changed many of the traditional attitudes, at least outside Japan. Here were fighters who had very different training methods, and who were accustomed to picking up opponents at any opportunity. They were not worried whether the techniques had proper Japanese name (sic) or not. Their aim was to throw their opponents flat on there (sic) backs-and uranage was just as good as seoi-nage as far as they were concerned. Furthermore, they trained for this, both physically and technically.
This fresh view prised open competition judo. Suddenly, nothing seemed sacred any more. Top champions suddenly became concerned about coming in with a strong forward attack for fear of being unceremoniously dumped backwards.
Robert van de Walle, Judo Masterclass Techniques, Pick-Ups
Page 17 of Reference 14
However, it was only recently, during the 1960s, that the Russians revolutionised modern-day judo with their unorthodox techniques derived from sambo wrestling, thus opening up a whole new range of ideas for modern judoka.
Neil Adams, Judo Masterclass Techniques: Armlocks
Page 8 of Reference 1
Pick-Ups in judo refers to the group of techniques including morote-gari, sukui-nage, ura-nage, kata-garuma, etc. which are considered wrestling techniques as opposed to techniques true to the spirit of judo. Properly executed, a pick-up does, however, score the same point as a classical judo throw.
Through Oshchepkov, the Soviets were well aware of traditional judo training practices but did not always find them practical for their purposes. SOMBO training was based on traditional wrestling instruction bolstered with the latest western athletic training science and philosophy. The wrestling model was particularly useful to the Soviets since much of their military was already versed in their own ethnic styles of combat wrestling. The curriculum was based on learning to use and counter the techniques most likely to be encountered on the streets or the battlefield. It started simply and progressed in range and depth of techniques based on the individual student뭩 training needs.
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