Reverberations from the judo world scandal, triggered by the written complaint from 15 female judo athletes that they were subjected to harassment and physical violence by the head coach and the assistant coach, continued last week with the resignations of an influential board member of the All Japan Judo Federation and the assistant coach involved. But the resignations have not brought the scandal to a close.
As the athletes have demanded, the AJJF should make serious efforts to bring about "fundamental change" not only in the coaching staff of the national women's team but also in the world of judo in general in Japan. The head coach, Mr. Ryuji Sonoda, resigned on Feb. 1. On Feb. 5 Mr. Kazuo Yoshimura, an AJJF board member in charge of athlete development, and assistant coach Mr. Kazuhiko Tokuno resigned.
Mr. Yoshimura has a brilliant record as a judo coach. But rather than taking a rational and scientific approach toward training, he stresses the importance of athletes' willpower. In the past he has forced injured judo athletes to take part in matches and imposed extremely tight training schedules.
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