Judo career
Geesink first participated in the European Championships in [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951"]1951[/URL], and placed second in his category. The following year, he won his first European title. Until [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967"]1967[/URL], 20 more European titles would follow.
At the [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961"]1961[/URL] World Championships, Geesink became World Champion in the open class, defeating the [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan"]Japanese[/URL], who had won all World Championship titles up to that point.
Judo debuted as an official sport at the [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Summer_Olympics"]1964 Summer Olympics[/URL], which were held in the sports home country, [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan"]Japan[/URL]. Although Japan dominated 3 of the 4 weight divisions (light,middle and heavy), Anton Geesink won the final of the open weight division, defeating [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Akio_Kaminaga&action=edit"]Akio Kaminaga[/URL] in front of his home crowd.
After winning the 1965 World Championships and a last European title in 1967, Geesink quit competitive judo.
Anton Geesink is the only living 10th dan grade kodansha recognized by the [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Judo_Federation"]IJF[/URL] but not by [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodokan"]Kodokan[/URL]. There are three living 10th dan kodanshas recognized by Kodokan: [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toshiro_Daigo&action=edit"]Toshiro Daigo[/URL], [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ichiro_Abe&action=edit"]Ichiro Abe[/URL] and [URL="********en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yoshimi_Osawa&action=edit"]Yoshimi Osawa[/URL].