Funny Fact: When he was 12, Anton was beaten up by Rijk de Gooyer, because he was caught stealing breads from Rijk the Gooyers bakery-cart. Nowadays, both Anton and Rijk are Dutch celebrities. Anton for his Judo career, and Rijk de Gooyer is a well known actor in The Netherlands. Both come from the Dutch city of Utrecht.
Born in Utrecht, Geesink first participated in the European Championships in 1951, and place second in his category. The following year, he won his first European title. Until 1967, 20 more European titles would follow.
At the 1961 World Championships, Geesink became World Champion in the open class, defeating the Japanese, who had won all World Championship titles up to that point.
Judo was first contested at the Olympics during the 1964 Summer Olympics, which were held in the sports home country, Japan. Although Japan dominated all other categories, Anton Geesink won the final of the open class, defeating Akio Kaminaga in front of his home crowd.
After winning the 1965 World Championships and a last European title in 1967, Geesink quit competitive judo. In 1987, he became a member of the board of the Dutch National Olympic Committee, and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Geesink was among the IOC members to be suspected of accepting bribes during the scandal surrounding the election of Salt Lake City as the host of the 2002 Winter Olympics. The IOC considered the situation not serious enough for expulsion, and issued a warning to Geesink.