World judo chief urges Japan to clean up its act after scandals

About time......nearly 4 months after the fact!

Japan's Judo association is almost as corrupted as the Sumo association. It's going to take a long time if it ever happens.

They were collecting money from their own athletes that was given by the JOC and they were using it to wine and dine at expensive restaurants, just like Yakuzas collecting protection fees, and that's only one of so many corruptions that were uncovered....

expelling Jiro Fukuda, 76, for life

What's that another 4 or 5 years..?

Boy, it must REALLY grate on the Japan Judo Association to be taken to the mat (pun!) publicly by the world governing body of a sport they founded. That said, the comments are appropriate and as the world governing body, the IJF should tell Japan that if it cannot clean up its own mess, the IJF will do it for them in the form of Suspensions from international competition.

Again, the Japanese don't consider their actions on the world stage. You wanna play on the world stage follow the rules or get out.

World judo chief urges Japan to clean up its act after scandals

i guess the japanese judo heads will do exactly that..............they will just keep doing what they have always been doing, just a little quieter.

While I fully agree that the Japanese Judo team(s) need to clean up their acts. This guy picks a really interesting time and way to declare this out loud. I can see him personally benefiting if Turkey gets the 2020 games, so close to Romania.

misuse of funds

A national sport.

Graham: "Boy, it must REALLY grate on the Japan Judo Association to be taken to the mat (pun!) publicly by the world governing body of a sport they founded."

I was thinking the same thing, and I'm pretty sure there will be a number of people, IF the media even covers it here, that will call it an attack on Japanese culture before pretending it never happened. In any case, I doubt it will help.

Foreigner telling the Japanese how to govern its own sport!

But..but we bowed and apologized!

I thought Vizer was a Romanian...

I'm sure Japan is really going to care what some foreigners think about a sport they founded...!

Is it just me, or did the IJF miss the recent scandal about Olympic judo gold medalist Masato Uchishiba's conviction for raping a teenage judo student. Or maybe this was deemed irrelevant because Uchishiba wasn't sanctioned by the AJJF?

By the way, he's Romanian.

Mr Marius Vizer is Romanian from Bihor and until 1988 he was a Judo coach in Romania.

Mr Marius Vizer is Romanian from Bihor and until 1988 he was a Judo coach in Romania.

The usual excuses, just like Sumo: It's a national sport, it has it's 'traditions', you don't understand our culture....

it's all under yakuza control

Being told a) to clean up and b) by a foreigner of c) "they're" sport. I know I'm laughing at this one.

And yes, no comments about the rape by a former gold medalist?

Why was the former coach not charged with assult? This is the issue. People are allowed to step down, get a nice lump sum and never face criminal charges. Why not? We the tax payers are paying for this and I'd like to see this jerks charged. If anyone was serious about cleaning judo up, this would all be done without question.

The All Japan Judo Federation does not own Judo or is it "they're" sport. If the AJJF or any Judo Association from any country should be punished should they bring the sport into disrepute then they should be punished. It is quite simple.

Again, the Japanese don't consider their actions on the world stage. You wanna play on the world stage follow the rules or get out.

Well this shouldn't be accepted in Japan either. Its a shame Japan needs the IJF to tell them that though.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/08/26/national/108-school-judo-class-deaths-but-no-charges-only-silence/#.Ubat-fmfYbA

"sullied in its birthplace"? - nice turn of phrase.

@therougou Read that well written Japan Times article you linked. It appears the many Judo instructors in Japan have anger issues and can easily, without fear of consequence, take their frustrations out on their students. Is Judo being taught at all Japanese High Schools?

For all the people insisting he's Romanian, the IJF website lists his nation as "Austria" and that he's currently living in Budapest, Hungary.

http://www.ijf.org/