Recently published press material by Revista Budô

Revista Budô, “On January 12, 2013, I participated in the PanAmerican Judo Confederation’s Congress held in Costa Rica. It was a real pleasure for me, as IJF President, to spend a few days together with the leaders of the PanAmerican National Federations, the PJC Executive Committee and the Vice-President of the IJF, Mr. Paulo Wanderley.”

The Same Point of View

“I was invited and participated, together with Mr. Henry Nunez, the President of the Costa-Rican Olympic Committee, in the opening working session of the Congress, where I made several comments regarding the strategy of appointment of the Executive Committee, which was going to be led by the President Wanderley. I stated that this strategy must be in accordance with the IJF Statutes, taking into account that each Continental Union must respect and follow the IJF Statutes. I left the Congress, together with Mr. Nunez, in order to allow the participants to carry on their work in peace and in order. Our departure was not due to any conflict of any kind.

Concerning Mr. Paulo Wanderley’s comments to my observations, I consider that, in an excess of zeal towards Mr. Wanderley’s position as President of the Confederation, he had a natural reaction to protect his strategy and team. I do not find anything to condemn this. I would only like to add that the National Federations are direct members of the IJF and so are the Continental Unions. Thus generally speaking, we do not have different points of views within the judo world, but a unique strategy, whose criteria are followed by the National Federations. The role of Continental Unions is to implement the IF strategy at a regional level and also to closely coordinate, still at a regional level, the National Federations, which are members of the IF and of the Continental Union.”

No Dissension Between the IJF and the PJC

“There is no dissension between the IJF and the PJC, nor between myself, as IJF President and Mr. Paulo Wanderley, as leader of the PJC.

Today, the Continental Unions are financially supported by the International Judo Federation and it is important that the resources for the Judo in the Unions are efficiently used for the development of the National Federations in the various regions of the world.

The way in which Continental Unions wish to elect and appoint their Executive Committee members is up to them, but their strategy must be in accordance with the IJF Statutes and have to respect the ethical and deontological principles that are specific to the values of the sport that we all represent.

The day following the Congress, I had an important meeting with Mr. Paulo Wanderley, in which we discussed all the important PanAmerican Judo Confederation’s issues, including the problem of affiliations, the development strategy for the next period, certain conflicts at the level of National Federations, new events on the continent – the Miami Grand Prix and the Havana Grand Prix – as well as all the aspects related to the synergy of the PanAmerican Judo Confederation and their members, and the harmonization of the relationships and the partnership strategy with the IJF.”

The PJC and Pan American National Federation are Important Members of the IJF

“We have both agreed on all the subjects and our relationship is at least as good as it was in the past.

The PanAmerican Judo Confederation, together with the national federations are important members of the IJF. I consider that in the past, they passed through a difficult period of destabilization and political conflicts, which partially affected the stability and balance of the Union. But after the good results obtained at the London Olympic Games and a good IJF-PJC common strategy, the PJC is heading in the right direction. I hope that during the upcoming Olympic cycle, they will be an example not only in terms of participation at events, but also in terms of stability.

I would like to address a warm message to all the PanAmerican National Federations, the PJC Executive Committee members and to President Paulo Wanderley, and meanwhile wish them all lots of successes in the new Olympic cycle.” —- IJF