Eric Hänni



Eric Hänni (born 19 December 1938) is a Swiss retired judoka who competed between 1959 and 1974. In 1964 he won an Olympic silver medal and a European bronze medal in the lightweight category. During his career Hänni won seven individual national titles (1959, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969–71) and took part in twelve European and three World Championships.

Hänni's parents divorced before he was ten, and Hänni's lived with his uncle in Bern. He then moved to Canton of Jura where he worked as a mechanic. Besides competing in judo, he also acted as a referee, at the national (since 1965), European (since 1974) and world level (since 1985). In 1966 he started coaching judo, first in Zurich and between 1967 and 1972 at Nippon Bern. In 1972 he opened his own judo club in his native Delémont, which he ran until 1995. In parallel, he trained the national junior and senior teams and acted as vice-president of the Swiss Judo Association. In 2014, he became the first Swiss judoka to receive an honorary 9th dan.

Hänni is married and has two children. He is a fan motorcycle racing, in which he competed at the national level.