Elco van der Geest

Elco van der Geest (born 4 May 1979 in Haarlem, North Holland) is a Dutch-born Belgian judoka. Throughout his career, Elco had competed for the Netherlands. In August 2009, Elco accepted the request to join the Belgian team. He achieved Belgian citizenship right before the 2009 World Judo Championships in Rotterdam.

Elco van der Geest

Personal information
Born	(1979-05-04) 4 May 1979
Occupation	Judoka
Sport
Country	Netherlands (1994–2009) Belgium (2009–2012)
Sport	Judo
Weight class	–90 kg, –100 kg
Achievements and titles
World Champ.	5th (2011)
European Champ.	(2002, 2010)
Olympic Games	5th (2004)
Medal record Men's judo Representing  Belgium European Championships 2010 Vienna –100 kg IJF Grand Slam 2010 Paris –100 kg 2010 Rio de Janeiro –100 kg 2011 Rio de Janeiro –100 kg IJF Grand Prix 2010 Düsseldorf –100 kg Representing  Netherlands European Championships 2002 Maribor –100 kg 2003 Düsseldorf –100 kg 2001 Paris –100 kg IJF Grand Slam 2009 Rio de Janeiro –100 kg IJF Grand Prix 2009 Tunis –100 kg World Juniors Championships 1998 Cali –90 kg
Profile at external databases
IJF	746, 946
JudoInside.com	36
Updated on 15 November 2022.

He is the son of coach Cor van der Geest and a younger brother of Dennis who is also a judoka competing on the highest level.

According to International Judo Federation's World Ranking List, as of June 2010, Elco van der Geest is rank at the number-two spot under Takamasa Anai of Japan.

He has twice competed at the Olympics, once for the Netherlands in 2004 losing to Ihar Makarau in the semi-finals, and then to Ariel Ze'evi in the bronze medal match, and then in 2012 where he lost to eventual gold medalist Tagir Khaibulaev in the first round.[1][2]