Kazuo Yoshimura

Kazuo Yoshimura (吉村 和郎, Yoshimura Kazuo; born 6 July 1951) is a retired Japanese judoka. Yoshimura is from Kumamoto, Kumamoto. He belonged to Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department after graduation from Nihon University in 1973. In 1973, When Yoshimura was a student of university, he won a bronze medal at the World Championships held in Lausanne. He was expected to get gold medal of World Championships in 1977 or Olympic Games in 1980. But he couldn't because World Championship was cancelled and Olympic Games was boycotted by Japanese Government. Yoshimura retired in 1980 and took office as the coach of Kodogakusha (講道学舎, Kōdōgakusha). Among his students is former world champion, Toshihiko Koga and Hidehiko Yoshida. As of 2010, He has coached All-Japan women's judo team since 1997. In November 2012 he resigned as the women's trainer and was replaced by Hitoshi Saito.