KRPALEK Lukas

Belt grade
Black belt - IV DAN (IJF, 15 Jul 2016)

Preferred techniques
Harai-goshi (IJF, 17 Jul 2016)

General
WEIGHT CHANGE
After winning gold in the -100kg category at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, he moved up a weight class to +100kg. He says he made this decision for health reasons and because he wanted a new challenge having won Olympic, world and European titles at -100kg. "Even if I had lost at the Olympics in round one, I knew the change would come one day. In the -100kg category, I used to drop many kilos, and I don't think it's very healthy to be losing weight throughout one's career, just to fit into a category. For me, it is a huge motivation to achieve something else, to try something new in another weight category. This weight category is more about sheer power. It's not as technical, it's not as dynamic or as fast, but great strength dominates here." (cnn.com, 30 Apr 2018)

OLYMPIC GOLD TRIBUTE
He dedicated his gold medal in the -100kg category at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro to Czech judoka Alexandr Jurecka, who died in a diving accident in 2015. "In the last two matches I thought so strongly about my friend. I couldn't lose the match. I was thinking about him the whole day. I had his picture with me all the time." (worldjudoday.com, 11 Aug 2016)

He became the first judoka representing the Czech Republic to win a medal at the Olympic Games when he won gold in the -100kg category at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (SportsDeskOnline, 18 Apr 2020)