Shinichi Shinohara

Shinichi Shinohara is a retired Japanese judo and winner of the gold medal at the 1999 World Judo Championships in Birmingham. To Shinohara's disappointment, French champion David Douillet did not compete at Birmingham due to back injury; Shinohara was quoted as saying, "Even though I lifted the double crown at the worlds, it won't mean anything as long as people say it was won in Douillet's absence." Douillet had previously been declared victor at the 1997 championships in Paris after a French judge gave Shinohara a controversial penalty.