Riner head of the IJF [Mod. Edit] Athlete's Commission

Did anyone expect this? I certainly did not. What does this mean for the future of the IJF?

http://www.insidethegames.biz/sports/summer/judo/1015798-riner-appointed-head-of-ijf-athletes-commission

afulldeck wrote:Did anyone expect this? I certainly did not. What does this mean for the future of the IJF?

http://www.insidethegames.biz/sports/summer/judo/1015798-riner-appointed-head-of-ijf-athletes-commission

The title of this thread is somewhat misleading. It's Vizer who is "Head of the IJF". Riner was elected merely head of one of the God knows how many committees and commissions the IJF has, in this case the relatively unimportant "Athlete's Commission".

Title almost made me spill all coffee on my keyboard  

xjej wrote:Title almost made me spill all coffee on my keyboard  

Your welcome. You needed a new computer anyway ..... 

What does it say about the IJF that the "Athlete's Commision" is one of the least important commitees?

hedgehogey wrote:What does it say about the IJF that the "Athlete's Commision" is one of the least important commitees?

in all sports federations the athelete commission is one of the least important ones. The coaches and officials allways know better than athletes what they want.
"The teachers know best..."
"The politicians know best..."
"CK knows best..."  

finarashi wrote:

hedgehogey wrote:What does it say about the IJF that the "Athlete's Commision" is one of the least important commitees?

in all sports federations the athelete commission is one of the least important ones. The coaches and officials allways know better than athletes what they want.
"The teachers know best..."
"The politicians know best..."
"CK knows best..."  

Finarishi, please, don't drag me in.

Hedgehogey's rhetorical question was of course spot on. That the athlete's commission has the role of relatively low importance probably also has to do with:

- seniority in terms of being relatively of a much more young age, some are still minors
- they are busy training instead of networking, participating in expensive diners, staying at expensive hotels, and doing the "I'll scrub your back, you scrub mine" kind of thingy
- knowing the entire IJF in terms of processes, people and stuff, takes a long, long time and puts you at a great disadvantage. I remember when I was competing as a youngster and seeing so many important-looking grey-haired people shake hands, knowing who else was important, that it was intimidating a in a sense, you wanted to please them, as they would decide your future in judo (whether you won matches or not, whether you were selected for the national team or not, whether you would be promote or not). Brown-nosing was an important part of judo and was not even considered "brown-nosing" but "judo-specific respect". We simply didn't know any better. Boy, have things changed a bit since then ... Officials can REALLY screw over people, and break your career. I know of a few.