ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux JUDO RON 55- Olympics Inspiration and Dilemma

On July 27th 2012, in London England is where the enigma begins. The Olympic events of the past have provided unique stages for the exhibition of technical excellence within fraternal surroundings. Again this year, International representatives of the judo world (Men and Women) will assemble to compete in what is considered to be the ultimate Shiai to be witnessed by millions of spectators and billions of TV viewers. All participants would have made enormous efforts to sustain their goals, endured training hardships, often cried and at times, have been exalted by the progress accomplished along their individual path. Now that they have made the selection list of their respective nations, they will get the opportunity to demonstrate to the world just what level of self-improvement they have made. The winners of medals and those less fortunate have a unique occasion to demonstrate their personal values and spirit, let alone their courage and humanism. As they are elevated into the ranks of immortals of the Olympic Movement, we expect them to have no anger, remorse nor sorrows because they did their best. Will they continue to inspire others, by going beyond their ego and seek new opportunities to make their achievements profitable and at the service of others? Will they still retain their pride although not fortunate to wear a medal and rejoice for having participated in this unique experience and foremost, to have performed to the highest of their abilities? Historical synopsis The Olympics are named after the city of their origin: Olympia in Greece. The ancient Olympics or Games were one of the many ways that the Greeks worshipped their pagan gods. The city of Olympia was one of the oldest religious centers in their Commonwealth of city states. There, athletes, performers, musicians, religious priests and laypersons gathered to pay homage to the Gods for their respective blessings. Under the protection of a Truce, they came from all parts of the colonies to display their savoir-faire, their strength and their courage. Every event abounded with vitality and offered true expression of human accomplishments. Records of the game have been traced back to 776 BC.

ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux

The ancient Olympic Games reached their zenith in the sixth and fifth centuries BC. They later fell into lesser importance, prestige and popularity during the Roman Empire who considered them to be anti-roman cultural events. Nevertheless, over the years, several other kingdoms emulated them periodically and have known some degree of success. Partial pursuit of the Games The numerous international conflicts, overt racism, zealous patriotism, wars and financial burdens have been their principal enemies. In the last century, prominent nations have continued to hold national competitive events to enlist national pride and overall fitness. Some international games were held strictly amongst allied and Commonwealth of Nations as a mean to strengthen their alliances, consolidate their political ties and show their superiority. Rebirth The Olympic Movement was reborn in November 1892 at the Sorbonne Conference in Paris where international delegates answered the call of Pierre Frdy also known as Baron Pierre de Coubertin to revive the Games and make it a socio-cultural movement aimed at tightening the bonds amongst nations and seeking international peace through excellence in sport contests. The renowned educator, social reformer and propagandist that were the hallmarks of Baron Coubertin had succeeded after a decade of interventions and international presentations to obtain sufficient consensus and enlist participation from across a wide range of Nations to hold the next Modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 and possibly in Paris for 1900. There were 245 contestants from 14 nations who participated in 43 events at the 1896 Rendezvous. Contestants at these first Modern Olympics had to be athletes and participants who had been classed as amateurs. They were expected to compete with fair play for the intrinsic pleasure of the contest and not represent their nations as professionals having obtained some sort of remunerations for their efforts. The growth and importance of the games continued to expand over the years. There are now winter and summer games and over 300 separate competitions of sort. In London this year, there are 302 events with over 100 nations participating. This success story was predicted and earlier reports from the Sorbonne conference mentioned that Baron Pierre de Coubertin expressed his feelings of the Games in the following terms: Nothing in ancient history inspired more revering in me than the Olympics. Allen Guttmann a researcher at the University of Illinois expressed his awe about the movement as follow: A large number of Olympics actors have testified that receiving their gold medals meant more to them than setting world records or triumphing in other less symbolically weighted competition. i Today, the world media apparatus will cover most events with detailed, live coverage and capture all the associated suspense and drama they can. All the events are expected to light up the screens and the bleachers. Such exposures will surely lead to a gain in popularity for all the sports, judo included.
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ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux

Politics and Finances The attention given to these events is bound to attract the attention of politicians, government officials, commercial elites and social associations desiring to make an imprint before such a wide international audience. Kings, Queens, Royals, Czars, Emperors and Social leaders have participated in the past alongside of commoners. The uniqueness of such gathering rivals that of the United Nations Special Assembly and a World Fair Exhibition. Associations and groups desiring to make a statement to attract sympathy or adherence to their cause or product will no doubt plan such a sortie during the numerous presentations and events. It is a golden public relations opportunity. Continuing the tradition of past Games, serious and strategic business and political consortia as well as bilateral talks are to be expected. International monetary situation, social tension issues, racial diversity, bickering over tenure of offices and the choice of the next host country are but a few scenarios on the menu list. Financially, all such Olympics are costly. Host countries spend enormous amount of money to build the infrastructures, the preparation of the venues, the transportation of visitors and athletes, the hotels and residences, the administrative support staff etc. The security requirements alone may represent more than the annual budget of many small countries. Public funds and private resources are combined to support such expenditures. Canada experienced such a financial stress with its Montreal Games in 1976. Several years were needed to recover from that financial adventure. Current investors are looking for returns on investments: Broadcasting TV rights, publications, tickets sale, memorabilia and photos make up some of the returns. Spectators will pay a high price to attend some events as tickets are restricted in numbers and a large portion of them is attributed to corporate sponsors and preselected audiences. For most of us, we will have to be contented with watching the events selected by the host broadcasters at the time of their choosing. Even thousands of miles away, we, at least, can participate and rejoice at seeing excellence in sports. Amateurism As the athletes make their entry, we are about to witness an array of participants. Men and women will be covered in national uniforms of multi-color fabrics and wearing patriotic emblems to distinguish them from other contestants. The parade of amateur athletes will embrace all walks of life from the five continents. The concept of amateurism as declared at the Sorbonne meeting has since been somewhat modified or altered by various interpretations and twists occurring at different periods and under different political settings. We now witness a more general application of the rules at different scales depending upon the participating nation.

ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux

The Games are open to all who qualify. Athletes come from a cross section of different milieu. There are enlisted soldiers, policemen, social workers, students, athletes from rich and poor families alike and representing all walks of life. The affluent countries have generally benefited from good training venues, excellent coaching structures and administrative support organizations. Some of their members received direct funding, financial assistance through national associations or obtained grants, bursaries from governments as well as sponsorships from commercial companies or through gracious donations of concerned philanthropists. In contrast, the athletes from developing countries are not so lucky; often, they have to train with very basic structure and equipment, rarely do they have direct access to experienced coaching and research establishments. Sometimes, they have to go abroad and train under the good will of host nations. Many are debt leaden and can hardly suffice to meet their essential needs of providing for food and shelter. Nevertheless, the Games remain open to all those who have met the selection criteria of their respective national and governing bodies. Coming from every corners of the earth, they will appear proudly at the London Rendezvous in July. Sports for everyone At the onset of the Games, not everyone was included. There were difficulties but progresses were more dominant. The Olympic Movement has adapted to the changing world. Women were allowed to participate in the Games for the first time in the Paris Olympics of 1900, but only in golf and tennis. Women participation in all sports grew throughout the 20th century. At the Rome Games of 1960, the Paralympics Games were introduced. In 1967 the Medical Commission was raised to tackle the drugs and substance abuse with testing and the first Youth Olympic Games took its launching in Singapore in 2010. Olympics Spirit With the renewal of the Olympic Games, Baron de Coubertin expressed his ideal philosophy of athletic competition as follow: "The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." In the Olympic Charter we can read in part that "Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a well-balanced and sum total, the qualities of body, will and mind. (Une me saine dans un corps sain). It accomplishes that goal by blending sport with culture and education. It further seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in performing well , providing the educational value through good example and displaying respect for the universal fundamental and ethical principles. Another stated goal of Olympism is to ensure that sports are rightly placed to serve the harmonious development of human being and encourage the establishment of a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux

Judo enters the Olympics While the social Olympic movement was taking shape in Europe, elsewhere, in a Continent away, a Japanese educator from the Imperial University named Jigoro Kano had embarked on a mission to transform the educational system of his country. With the introduction of his Judo in 1882, he aimed at ensuring that the glory of the past martial art of Ju Jutsu would not be forgotten with the rapid change of the society. He transformed it to render it more practical and safe and he introduced it as a physical education system and philosophy that would bring health and pride to the nation. After graduating from the Tokyo Imperial University, Dr Jigoro Kano founded Kodokan Judo in 1882. He served for 23 years as principal of the Higher Normal School and the Tokyo Higher Normal School, which were forerunners of the University of Tsukuba. During those years, he devoted himself to educational reform, the promotion of physical education and sports. He had the opportunity to make frequent travels abroad and exchange with prominent educators and social reformers. Dr Jigoro Kano was well aware of the influence of the German gymnastic system Turnen developed by F.L Jahn who used the activity as part of the public school system to improve general conditioning and serve to highlight the German strength. His other researches abroad and in particular England, France and several European countries provided first hand opportunities to watch and discuss the relationships between sports and education. He was very interested into the American interscholastically programs and the English sports syllabus in vogue at elite schools as promoted by Sir Thomas Arnold, as they were shown to contribute to the overall moral education of students. He also was able to watch some of the French combat arts which were popular at the time and compared their applications with his Judo system. By 1909 Dr Jigoro Kanos reputation as an education reformer was well known and he was nominated to serve on the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In May 1909 he attended his first meeting in Berlin. At that session, the IOC under the leadership of Baron de Coubertin unanimously elected him as the first member of the IOC from an Asian country. Participating actively on this platform, he continued to reinforce his Kodokan teaching syllabus and devoted himself to expand the adhesion of several other disciplines from Asia and Japan into the Olympic Movement. In 1921, Dr. Kano headed the first yet limited Japanese delegation to the Stockholm Games. Since then, Japan promoted sports and cultural exchanges with other countries around the world. Dr. Kano emphasized the integration of the spirit of martial arts and the Olympic creed. Through this, he tried to enhance the Olympic Games as a true international event. The European IOC members recognized Dr. Kano as a "true educator of youth" and "a man of character in sports education".

ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux

Tokyo 1964 In recognition of his efforts and considering the economic reforms advanced by Japan, the IOC awarded the 1940 Games to Tokyo but because of the War, the Games were cancelled for both 1940 and 1944. Tokyo was reconfirmed for the 1964 Games and this is where Judo first made its appearance. On that occasion, there were over 5000 participants from 93 nations who competed in 163 events. Judo has since been on the agenda of the Olympics for the past 11 games. The oldest judoka to fight was 43 and the youngest was barely 15 years of age. Several transformations did occurred to modify the rules of the judo competition, amongst them: refereeing rules were adapted to permit greater participation and the scoring formula was altered several times, the two colored judogi came into being, more weight classes were added and the fighting elapse time was shortened to five minutes from 20-10 and then to 5 minutes. Post Tokyo 47 Canadian judokas have already represented our country in past events. (28 men and 19 women). All those distinguished judokas were inspired by a dream of excellence and chose to pursue that dream under the guidance of excellent coaches. They, like other judokas had to endured the various training drills and programs, accepted the separation from families and contributed with all their heart and energy to accomplish what they sought after. We can be proud to have had such high caliber sport ambassadors. Interesting Statistical play There is a tendency to rank the participating country in accordance with the number of medals they have obtained. In the Judo event, Canada is currently ranked 27th on the international ranking list having won two silver and two bronze medals. (Nicolas Gill: (2) silver and bronze, Doug Rogers (Silver) and Mark Berger the bronze). This years delegation is composed of seven judoka (5 men-2 women) who will confront their colleagues from 116 nations. All have established their presence amongst the top listing candidates and their individual ranking position varies from 22nd to a high of 14th. During the Grand prix competitions circuit leading to their final selection, all players succeeded in securing a count 384 to 582 points depending on the event they were registered in. The current leaders in these events have scored between 1480 to 2190 points. Beware of statistics If someone relies solely upon these numbers, then, the prognostics would favor some of our participants with a 27% to 39% chance of coming home with a medal. Beware of numbersIt is to be remember, that judo Shiai results are not just a statistically entity. So many factors need to be considered. We are witnessing a combat engagement between two well-prepared adversaries and everything is possible.
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ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux

Amongst the factors to place in the assessment equation we find: Acclimation to the surroundings, daily state of preparation, physical conditions and mental alertness, relationships with the coaches and other team members, number of distractions, Shiai-jo ambiance, selection of ranking for the first round, elapse time between call and combat, knowledge of self and the opponents, elements of hazard and last but not least, the degree of focus placed upon the goal. The greatest action is not conforming to the worlds ways Zen proverb Surprises or patterns to be expected In the past years, the Japanese delegation was awarded some 65 medals. Their supremacy during the first eight games since Tokyo has been challenged by many European and Asiatic nations since. This years Japanese women delegation has a strong precedent in showing its dominance. The Japanese men team is addressing its difficulties by increasing their recourse to perfect Scoring of the IPPON and has demonstrated increased polyvalence between standing and ground techniques. In recent years, the French competitors have depended upon good scouting and intelligence about their potential opponents; they are employing more tactical skills and greater adaptation to the logic of their training programs. The Russians have proven their worth in conditioning and stamina building, going for a longer match period while the Eastern Bloc countries have come up with additional non-orthodox and powerful techniques. Other athletes from smaller participating countries are expected to offer some elements of surprise to secure their place on the podium. In their last legs preparing for their first Olympic match, judoka and coaches have to decide how best to tackle their goals; are they to follow their habitual training patterns and reinforce their weaknesses while tuning their strengths or will they concentrate on the development of innovative approaches to maintain some elements of secrecy and surprise? At that high level of competition, all habits and portrait-robots are scrutinized and analyzed. Defensive reactions and strategies are redesigned by the opposition to negate their effect or advantage while the weaknesses are turned around to be used to their own benefits. There are risks either way: maintain the robotic approach and consolidate the existing style of fighting in the hope that the opportune moment (Debana) will occur as per magic or work upon adding new tactical moves or positions ( Tai Sabaki) that are both unorthodox and spontaneous yet remained well suited to the personality of the respective judoka and hoping that they will produced unexpected outcomes. Coaches and judokas have to decide the acceptable risk levels before stepping on the tatami. We will only discover their game plan when they step on the mat.

ZUIHITSU-Random notes on Judo by Ronald Dsormeaux

The spectators expectations Some ancient sages have told us to look at each event for what they are and learn to appreciate what is happenings at the exact moment they occur. We have the opportunity before us to liberate ourselves from prejudices and false expectations and savor the moments of excellence as they will be displayed by each competing judoka. Let us not try to predict the outcomes and be attached or centered upon the number of medals our Canadian delegation can capture. Instead, let us rejoice in having such talented ambassadors who entice us to carry the spirits of the Olympics with them. Let us hope that they will take pleasure and enjoyment in participating, knowing they have done their best to implement the judo principles of Seiryoku Saizen Katsuyo (best use of ones energy) and Jita Kyoei (mutual benefits and prosperity) through their participation at the London 2012 Rendezvous. During the relche of our training session, let us enjoy these sublime moments garnished by outstanding athletes. They will provide us with a first line view of their physical and mental excellence and demonstrate true mastery in the sport of Judo. Ronald Dsormeaux, Judo Teacher, Hart House dojo, University of Toronto May 2012

Note
This article contains copyrights and is registered with the Canadian Electronic Archives library. Reproduction for commercial aims is prohibited. For more information, please contact the author at: Ronalddesormeaux@gmail.com

Reference
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Allen Guttmann, The Olympics, 2 Edition, University of Illinois, 1992, page 1.

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