Robert Berland

Robert Berland intrigues me precisely because judo is so often framed as Japan's preserve, and here is a kid from Chicago who reached the Olympic stage in it. Born in 1961, he pursued the sport in an era when American judo was a genuine outsider's pursuit, which to me makes his achievement all the more striking. At 188 cm he must have been an imposing figure on the mat, and there is something fitting about a Scorpio in a discipline built on patience and the slow, relentless setup of a throw. I have real admiration for these cross-cultural devotees who carry a foreign tradition to the top.

Name (English)

Robert Berland

Name (Japanese)

ロバート・バーランド

Reading

ろばーと・ばーらんど

Born

November 5, 1961 (age 64)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Ox

Origin

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Height

188 cm

Occupation

judoka

High school

Stephen Tyng Mather High School

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89

Tags

• Illinois
• judoka

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.