Dennis van der Geest

In this Dutch name, the surname is van der Geest, not Geest.

Dennis van der Geest

Personal information
Born	(1975-06-27) 27 June 1975
Occupation	Judoka
Website	www.dennisvandergeest.nl
Sport
Country	Netherlands
Sport	Judo
Weight class	+100 kg
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games	(2004)
World Champ.	(2005)
European Champ.	(2000, 2002)
Medal record Men's judo Representing the Netherlands Olympic Games 2004 Athens +100 kg World Championships 2005 Cairo Open 2003 Osaka +100 kg 1997 Paris Open 1999 Birmingham Open 2001 Munich Open European Championships 2000 Wrocław +100 kg 2002 Maribor Open 1997 Oostende +95 kg 2001 Paris Open 2003 Düsseldorf Open 1998 Oviedo Open 1999 Bratislava Open 2002 Maribor +100 kg 2004 Bucharest +100 kg 2005 Rotterdam +100 kg European Junior Championships 1994 Lisbon ‍–‍95 kg 1995 Valladolid +95 kg Summer Universiade 2001 Beijing +100 kg 1999 Palma de Mallorca +100 kg
Profile at external databases
IJF	31776
JudoInside.com	35
Updated on 30 May 2023

Dennis van der Geest (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdɛnɪs fɑn dər ˈɣeːst]; born 27 June 1975) is a Dutch judoka, who won the bronze medal in the men's heavyweight (+100 kg) division at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was born in Haarlem, North Holland.

In 2005, he became the world judo champion in the men's open division by defeating Russian Tamerlan Tmenov with ippon in the final. In 2000 and 2002, he became European Champion in the over 100 kg event. He won three bronze medals and one silver medal at previous world championships.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Van der Geest was eliminated in the first round by Tamerlan Tmenov. He sustained a minor fracture during the match when Tmenov fell on his arm, but he was able to finish the fight. Van der Geest planned to finish his Judo career after the 2008 Summer Olympics to pursue a career in the music industry, but after his unexpected defeat, he was quoted as considering entering the World Championship in 2009. However, on 7 May 2009 Dennis van der Geest announced his retirement from top sport, owing to his lack of motivation.

Outside his sport he was the ambassador of his favourite football team Feyenoord Rotterdam in the 2005/06 season. Next to that, he released his first single, "To The Sunshine", on 8 August 2008. This track was released under his stage name of Ippon, and is a collaboration with producer Ronald Molendijk.

His younger brother Elco is also a judoka competing at the highest level.

In 2011 and 2013 he appeared in episodes of the television game show De Jongens tegen de Meisjes.

In 2019 he played a role in the film Brugklas: De tijd van m'n leven.

External links

Media related to Dennis van der Geest at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Dennis van der Geest at the International Judo Federation
• Dennis van der Geest at JudoInside.com
• Dennis van der Geest at AllJudo.net (in French)
• Dennis van der Geest at Olympics.com
• Dennis van der Geest at Olympedia
• Dennis van der Geest at The-Sports.org