George Kerr

Who is George Kerr?

George Kerr CBE is a Scottish judo expert.

In 1957, he won the gold medal in the European Judo Championships in Rotterdam. In 2002 he was named one of the inaugural members of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. In 2001 he became president of the British Judo Association.

In 2010 he was awarded the grade 10th Dan by the International Judo Federation for international services to judo. He is currently the only living IJF jūdan. He is the second Briton after Charles Palmer to have gained this rank in Judo.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year Honours.

In Japan he is known as the David Beckham of Judo.

He also received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, in January 2011 after being named in Emperor Akihito's November 2010 honours list, due to his ongoing contribution to judo and to relations between the UK and judo's country of origin, Japan. Masataka Tarahara, Japan’s Consul-General in Scotland, presented him in Edinburgh with Japan’s equivalent of a CBE.

He has authored the books Judo: basic training manual for beginners, Judo as part of the 'Flying Start' series and, with his coaching-charge twice Olympic gold-medallist Peter Seisenbacher, Modern Judo: Techniques of East and West.