IJF President Marius L. Vizer re-elected in Rio

IJF President Marius L. Vizer was re-elected for another four years at the IJF Congress in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. Vizer has transformed the image of judo and the IJF since taking office in 2007 during the last World Championships in Brazil’s second largest city. The president responded touched: “I am very emotional because we have worked together for six years with trust, collaboration and respect. I thank all officials, our IJF Executive Committee, the IJF staff, and everyone involved in the judo world.”

“A few years ago we started a new project, a new vision, which saw us introduce the world ranking list – a system of professional qualification. This led us to the London 2012 Olympic Games which was very successful with 135 participating countries, judo was the third sport in this area behind only swimming and athletics. We saw 23 countries win medals and 20 judoka were flag bearers while 97,897 judo tickets were sold and there was huge interest with the venue full every day. The first Saudi Arabia woman to take part in the Olympic Games was a judoka as Wojdan Shahrkhani represented her country.” “Judo was promoted to Group C in the Olympic Classification thanks to good collaboration, more recognition in Olympic family and ensured a higher amount of Olympic dividends.” “I have the intention to organise a United World Championships every four years. Events would generate revenue for national federations, continental unions and would take place on the years following an Olympic Games before the Olympic qualification period is active.” Also IJF’s TV sales and growth of Social Media are excellent. IOC board member Mr. Patrick Hickey said: “I congratulate IJF President Mr. Marius Vizer on his election as SportAccord President. Vlad Marinesu has been appointed as SportAccord General Director and he will do a great job. Mr. Vizer has already brought a new attitude and a change of direction to what is a huge organisation. He supported me with the proposal of the European Games as Europe was the only continent without a continental multi-sport competition.”