Judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's open category Ruska retired after the Munich Games being the only judoka to win two medals in the same Olympics. Judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's open category Men's Open class competition in judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany was held at Judo and Wrestling Hall. Willem Ruska was the strong favorite to win a second gold medal, having already won gold in the +93 kg weight class. In a surprise Vitali Kuznetsov threw Ruska defeating him using Te Guruma. Kuznetsov ended up winning the pool allowing Ruska to continue in the repechage. Ruska ended up
Belarus at the Olympics Lillehammer, Norway. Since 1994, Belarus has won medals at each Winter and Summer Olympics it has participated in. Athletes from the Soviet Union began participating in the Olympic Games in 1952, winning 194 total medals in the Winter Games and 1010 at the Summer Games for a total of 1204 medals. Of those medals, 473 were gold, 376 were silver and 355 were bronze. The Belarusian collection of medals began with Mikhail Krivonosov winning silver in the hammer throw at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The Soviet Republic's first gold medal was won by Leonid Geishtor and Sergei