Olympic Games 2004

 

The Olympics is now over for another 4 years and I should imagine that it will only be short while before the politicians start remonstrating why team GB did not win as many gold medals as the last games, naturally they will blame everyone else accept themselves. Already the Sports Minister is accusing schools for not being competitive enough, yet it has been the Labour party and its left wing allies who have infiltrated schools over the last 20 odd years and introduced non competitive sport, stating being competitive is being elitist and elitism is bad, it is this government joining up to the European convention of Human Rights that has made schools frightened to do certain sports just in case they get sued. Interesting to note our most successful sports were rowing and sailing, which are vigorously encouraged in private schools, could be a lesson there?

 

 

I know a lot people did not watch the Olympics even on the TV or at the events but it still was a marvellous festival of sport and I enjoyed watching sports you do not normally see on TV but I still wonder if the name Olympics is the right name, it seems to me the original Olympics was about running, jumping, throwing, wrestling and pancreas, more importantly it was about an individual ability to beat his opponent. So why do we have team sports? Why sports where points are awarded for artistic and technical ability? Every Olympics more sports are added sports or should I say past times such as Ten Pin Bowling, Darts, Chess, Surfing, BMX, Skateboarding etc, etc are all rumoured to be pushing to become an Olympic Sports the list could be endless mind you can you blame them for trying it is a sad reflection that our Government and media have eyes only for Olympic sports. There is an organisation, which does cover non Olympic Sports this, is called the World Games, maybe there is room for more World Sports Festivals, this could lead to the Olympics returning to its original sports. Having smaller but more frequent World Sports festival would allow the massive TV audience to see a more varied sports programme rather then the standard TV coverage given by the BBC every Olympics.

 

You may think I have a downer on every sport that I do not have an interest in, on the contrary I believe sport can play an important part in the development of people and the human race as a whole. Sport obviously helps make a person body fitter and healthier but it also teaches self discipline, self control, respect for others, respect and admiration for perfection, the ability to accept failure yet not let you become a failure, sport is governed by rules to make it safe, fair and equal plus much more all these attributes help make better human beings and help contribute to society as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed the Badminton finals, the rowing plus other activities but just feel that another forum might be better suited. My sports are the Combat Disciplines i.e. Judo, Wrestling and Boxing and yes they have suffered because of all those added sports as they have had their entries curtailed. I tried to make the 1980 Olympic Judo Team I managed to make the Olympic Squad but not the team but the one thing that drove us all on was that if you were the best in your weight for the UK you went to the Olympics. This is no longer the case to qualify now you have to reach a certain placing in your Continental rankings; the reason for this is that it cuts down on the amount of people competing. These three sports give each competitor a chance of winning one medal compared with other sports such as swimming, badminton, horse riding etc where competitors can win many gold medals. Surely the organisers of the Olympics must question some of the multiple events held, for example swimming if one individual can win 7 golds does that not tell you that the difference between each style of swimming is not that great? In the athletics the commentators would say on countless occasions if an athlete lost an event “not to worry they have another chance at such and such event” In the Combat Sports they are not allowed a double bite at the cherry in fact to make sure they do not in Judo they have removed the Open weight class. Food for thought lets hope so.

 

Now on to my own sport of Judo, I have played Judo for 49 years won medals in all different association, been an international for the British Judo Association, British Judo Council, Amateur Judo Association and International Budo Federation, was a member of the Olympic Judo Squad 1978-1980 and a World Master’s Judo Champion 2001. In the last 20 years I have also taken a great interest in other forms of grappling, Sombo, Kurash, Free style Wrestling, Belt Wrestling, Submission Jacket Wrestling, Lucha Canaria, Georgian Wrestling, Cumberland Westmorland plus others. The world has a multitude of grappling styles all with their individual strong points.

The thing that made Judo stand out from the rest was its very upright stance and its high throws, I remember when I started winning world medals in Sombo and encouraging my Judoka to try this great sport other clubs would say do not go that Young Judo Club in Sittingbourne they do Sombo Wrestling this will ruin your Judo. Rubbish but you could understand the uninitiated because Sombo allowed you to grab the belt, reach over the back of your opponent, do fire mans from the knees (Kata Guruma) attack the legs from the knees, hold the jacket with both hands on the same side of the jacket, take a crouched position. Sounds familiar yes! Well you most probably saw all that in the Judo Olympic Games. So has Judo altered that much in 20 years or is poor refereeing?

Our own UK Team have come under a lot of criticism and according to Newspaper reports the BJA Chairman wants to get rid of all the Coaching Staff and yes they must take a large proportion of the blame but not all of it. Because of the rules governing selection for the Olympic games how much choice did the team selectors have? The question must be put to them if you had free range would you have selected the same people? Sometimes a coach has to look at the long term plan maybe it pays sometimes to select a player to gain experience at this Olympics, so they can win a medal at the next one. To do this each country must be able to select a full team of its choice, there are many advantages to this 1) we have more entries therefore a bigger chance of winning medals, 2) more Judoka would attend competitions if they know that their reward could be going to the Olympics, this would give a much wider base and may even stimulate a growth in Judo 3) The Olympic Judo could become more spectator friendly as in the preliminary rounds the weaker players would be taken out with dramatic techniques. One wonders if the team selectors could have chosen would they have selected Kate Howey? Kate has been in the past a great Judoka a medal in two Olympic a magnificent achievement but it is highly exceptional that an athlete is capable of winning a medal in four Olympics with the exception of the Olympics greatest ever athletes Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent. The newspapers were saying before the event that Kate was not expected to win a medal some one with inside knowledge must have given them that information? Was there no one else in her weight that was good enough? If any sport is to advance it must have new blood coming through.

 

The BBC which was covering the Olympics did Judo no favours in their coverage they showed very little, what they did show was entertaining to experienced Judoka but a complete bore to Joe Public and if Judo is to survive and grow we need Joe Public to enjoy and understand our sport. A Judoka will understand how important getting the right grip is but to watch nearly a minute of continual grip changing makes Judo look more like a striking art rather then a grappling on, in Boxing when players refuse to fight they are given the command contact, cannot Judo do the same? The refereeing as per usual left a lot to be desired with no consistency with regard to penalties or the scoring of throws, with regard to Ne-Waza the referees go from one extreme to an other a few years ago you could spend nearly the whole match on the floor now you have so little time you can not even manoeuvre you opponent into position. Several of my non Judo friends who watched the Judo were on the whole were unimpressed what they did like was the Blue Judogi, this allowed them to follow the match and they all commented on Gordon’s win with a strangle, showing that an un educated audience can appreciate groundwork.

If Judo is to catch the imagination of the Public it needs a major shake up:

1)      Bring back a more upright style and allow more ground play

2)      Revue the scoring and the signals

3)      Introduce Coloured Judogi, one club in Scotland has on sale Judogi in the colours of the Olympic rings

4)      In Sombo we have used soft-soled boots for years they prevent the spread of foot disease, support the ankle, prevent mat burns, which frequently turn septic and practically eliminate damaged broken toes. Why doesn’t Judo have the same?

5)      Change the dress and the attitude of the referees, Blazers etc look far to pompous and give the impression that the competitors are there for their benefit. Most grappling sports where the more informal white Polo style shirt with coloured arms and track bottoms a far more practical design. I was told that the referees were presented with more attention then the competitors was this true? b

6)      We must allow our competitors to be professional in the true sense of the word earning money from competitions, not having to rely on Sports Council and lottery handouts, the way the country is going that pot of gold will soon run out. How you do it I do not know but their must an entrepreneur some where in the Judo World who could help.

 

I hope my little article causes some debate but the only people who can change the course of Judo is the governing body the British Judo Association, lets hope they can put some life into the International Judo Federation before Judo becomes like the dinosaur extinct.

 

Yours Faithfully

 

 

 

 

Martin Clarke

 

PS. A message has been circulate round the WWW “ DOING A PAULA” meaning failing to complete something. What is your opinion on this?

PPS. Bob Willingham who was at the Olympics made the following comment:  On the topic "I was told that the referees were presented with more attention then the competitors was this true? "
At the beginning of each of the two sessions each day the announcer simply said "Please now welcome our Referees and Judges, ... and now please welcome the athletes to the field of play" thereafter the referees were not mentioned again, but at the beginning of each contest the athletes were introduced by colour Judogi, country and name and at the end the winner was mentioned in the same fashion and the winning score given

 

 

 

LETTER