Jeannine Meulemans (VJF) and the "Ligue Francophone de Judo", acting under the Belgian Judo Federation umbrella. The exams were held in Etterbeek (ESC), Brussels, before a national jury consisting of Jean-Marie Falise, Marcel Clause, Marcel Degroote, and presided by Abe Ichirō, 8th dan from the Kōdōkan in Japan. At that occasion she was praised by Abe Ichirō, for obtaining the highest score among all candidates irrespective of gender. In 1983 Meulemans retired from competitive judo after winning her 10th successive national title, though at club level she continued to remain for years a technically inspiring judo training partner to Sonja Maes and
Judo in Canada Mehmedovic, who competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Musician Mark Kasprzyk, who previously went by the stage name 'Kazzer', was an alternate for Canada's 2000 Olympic Judo team. In the video for his best known song as Kazzer, "Pedal to the Metal" (2002), Kasprzyk confronts a bully (played by Sebastian Pawlak, also a judo fighter) and disables him using the Judo throw "ippon seoi nage". He now goes by 'Kaz' and is the front man for the group Redlight King, best known for a song titled "Old Man" (2011) that samples fellow Canadian Neil Young's song by the same