Osama bin laden was a student of judo classes in Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden stood out not just because of his height because of his serious, conservative demeanour, according to a Taiwan man who says the al Qaeda leader, killed by US troops on Monday.
In 1981 to 1991 Laden came to learn to Judo of Saudi Arabian national judo team. Jimmy Wu, a top Taiwan judo coach
Bin Laden, whom Wu then knew only as "Osama", attended classes at the judo centre while still a university student. Laden was too tall for judo, and Wu said he advised him against the sport, but he was insistent so Wu accepted him.
Wu said "I didn't know the name bin Laden then," but "After 9/11 (attacks on New York and Washington), I was invited to a seminar, and some of my former students there said 'oh Jimmy, Osama, now he's our hero'. I was surprised and I looked for some pictures and I said 'oh this guy' and I started to have some memory of him."
Osama attended lessons two to three times a week but Wu never saw him again after 1984. Wu showed Reuters photographs of himself and a tall, thin, bearded, serious young man with a mop of black hair whom he said was Osama.
Reuters has no way of verifying that the man in the pictures was bin Laden.
Bin Laden had been on America's most wanted list since his followers carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001 and he was shot dead by US forces in Pakistan on Monday.
Laden may have lived in the country for seven years said Pakistan officials on Saturday.
