Olympic Referees
Some of us in judo have had our paths paved for us by our parents, our families or communities with their own lives ENGRAINED in the sport, others have stumbled on this beautiful sport and have been infected by the judo bug. This is the case for Nedim Bayat. I…
18 August 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
Nobody was closer to the action in Tokyo than the referees. We asked them about their experiences in the Nippon Budokan, the home of judo as the Olympic Games returned there after 57 years. First to divulge his personal experiences was Evgeny Rakhlin, who was still brimming with excitement following…
16 August 2021Olympic Referees
There have been many top referees hail from the Dutch nation, and next up to represent the Netherlands is Jhon Ramaekers. Judo as a sport in the Netherlands is highly regarded and even legendary given the history of Anton Geesink from the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo and the return…
15 August 2021Olympic Referees
Olivier Desroses is next up in our Paralympic referee lineup heading to Tokyo. At 11 years old, Olivier had absolutely no clue that in 2021 he would be claiming his place on a Paralympic tatami as a high ranked referee, but that is where is all started, at 11 in…
14 August 2021Olympic Referees
The Olympic Games have come to a close, Japan is looking toward a new dawn, that of the Paralympics. Another looking forward to arriving in Tokyo is Ioana Babiuc. Ioana didn’t take up judo as a very young child as many do, but found her place on the tatami as…
11 August 2021Olympic Referees
We are counting down the days till the Paralympic Games start in Tokyo, and while we look forward to the competition, we are excited to see our referees in action. Artur Fando, recipient of the EJU Best Referee award in 2016 is one of those referees. We have seen Artur…
7 August 2021Olympic Referees
The judo in the Olympic Games may have come to an end, but we still have more action to look forward to in the Paralympic Games with many European athletes stepping on the stage to claim their titles in Tokyo, but who will officiate? We are once again proud to…
4 August 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
Fridrich Annamaria is closing our roster of brilliant referees who we will see in Tokyo starting this week! She had quite a fantastic upbringing with her parents being artists in the circus, she travelled the world with her twin, Katalin who is also an international referee, as well as her…
21 July 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
Up next in our incredible lineup of Olympic referees is Matthieu Bataille. Starting judo at 6 years old in the kids club, AS Étaples in the north of France, Matthieu could never have anticipated that he would one day be a three-time world medallist, let alone have furthered his career…
19 July 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
There are only ten days to go until the judo event begins in the Olympic Games, Tokyo. Among the European referees that have been selected for the pinnacle event is Evgeny Rakhlin. Judo has been in Evgeny’s future since the day he was born. His father, Anatoly was a coach…
14 July 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
With just under two weeks to go to the Tokyo Olympic Games, we will welcome not only our potential European medallists but a selection of the highest ranked referees in the world, with a great group from our continent. Let us introduce Veli-Matti Karinkanta of Finland. In 1983 at the age…
11 July 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
As we approach the Olympic Games we will take a look at some of our highest ranked referees who will be representing us, a few of them not their first time at such level. Next up in the series is Georgian representative, Vladimer Nutsubidze. It would have been hard to…
7 July 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
Raul CAMACHO PEREZ is a man of many talents, covering many areas of judo. To us, he is best known as an exceptional referee, both on the EJU and IJF circuit but he demonstrates his judo abilities in Kata tournaments as well as being a teacher himself. As the Olympic…
27 June 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
We are delighted to announce that the selections for Olympic and Paralympic referees includes 15 of our European representatives. The following have been listed for the Olympic Games: Mr Vladimer NUTSIBIDZE (GEO) Mr Raul CAMACHO (ESP) Mr Veli-Matti KARINKANTA (FIN) Mrs Roberta CHYURLIA (ITA) Mr Matthieu BATAILLE (FRA) Mr Evgeny…
16 February 2021