When the Olympic Games were first held in Tokyo, in 1964, the Japanese only had eyes for judo, which was being included as an official sport for the first time. Japan's judokas were tipped to pull off a clean sweep of four gold medals – but a giant Dutchman blocked the hosts' way. This was how Anton Geesink plunged an entire country into unimaginable despair by winning the prestigious open weight division judo gold. The Essential Olympic Stories podcast is brought to you by Eurosport in association with Bridgestone. <hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Bailey's golden glory on the night of Christie's meltdown

In our new podcast, we delve into the history books to tell some of the greatest stories of sporting endeavour, intrigue and excellence in The Essential Olympic Stories.From Michael Phelps to Dawn Fraser and Muhammad Ali to Nadia Comaneci as well as featuring some of the forgotten heroes of yester-year, a new episode of Essential Olympic Stories will be released weekly until Games-time.The Essential Olympic Stories is supported by Bridgestone. The writers are Laurent Vergne and Maxime Dupuis, and all episodes are translated by Felix Lowe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.