Putin Joins Crowd for Judo World Champs-On the Scene

(ATR) Russian President Vladimir Putin takes a break from the wirling world of international politics to join the crowd for the final matches of the International Judo Federation World Championships in the central Russian city of Chelyabinsk.

Putin, perhaps the world’s most famous judoka, flew in Sunday afternoon to watch the final matches in this week-long event. Eschewing comfort, he sat in the stands on the same hard bottom, straight back seats as the rest of the 7500+ spectators who had filled the Traktor Arena in a suburb of Chelyabinsk. He sat alongside International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer and bantered with IOC member and International Ice Hockey Federation President René Fasel, the next seat over.

Putin stood to cheer when the Russian men won the first two bouts in the best-of-five team championship. But his presence wasn’t enough good luck; the Russians dropped the last three fights to Japan, settling for silver.

"It is a great honor to have him here. I know at this time he is very busy," International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer tells Around the Rings, understating the daily agenda which Putin must be facing these days.

The timing of these world championships comes as Putin deals with economic sanctions from the US and the tensions over Ukraine.

Vizer says despite those challenges, the tournament has managed to stay out of international politics.

"There is fantastic unity of the world judo community around this world championship knowing the international political arena. All national federations, all athletes, they have supported their participation in the world championships," he said.

"We don’t feel any inconvenience. Even in some of the fights where Ukrainian fighters they met other competitors, the public have supported the Ukrainian athletes. It was a nice attitude on the part of the local people from Chelyabinsk."

Regardless of Putin’s popularity or notoriety outside of Russia, he has been part of the marketing campaign within the country for the judo championships. His silhouette sitting cross legged in his judogi is featured in the logo for the event while billboards across Chelyabinsk show him shaking hands with the IJF president.

Vizer says Putin "is very important to judo sport".

"He is a model for a lot of young people, not only from Russia but from lots of countries. It’sa model of success from one member of our family, coming from the judo arena to the top of the world."

The world championships drew 637 competitors from 110 nations during the past week. Along with gold, silver and bronze medals, the judoka competed for cash prizes that ranged from $2,000 to $6,000. The team event champions share a $25,000 prize.

"It’s one of the best world championships to date. Great organization. Huge promotion in the media and in the city. It’s difficult to organize a perfect world championships. But this championship really reached all the levels from our point of view," says Vizer.

Host city Chelyabinsk lies 1000km east of Moscow. The city of nearly 2 million isknown for its smokestack factories that make steel, tractors and tanks. It’s also the place last year where the noisy meteor struck, shattering windows and collapsing buildings as it exploded in the sky. Hundreds of people, many of them children, were injured from flying debris.

Near capacity crowds have filled the 7500-seat Traktor Ice Arena during the seven days of competition. It’s considered a state of the art facility, open since 2009, home to the KHL Traktor ice hockey franchise.

The media center was located in the building just to the side of the VIP and accredited seating. IJF media director Mark Pennington says 350 media were accredited for the event.

Next year, by the way, the Traktor arena will host the world championships for the World Taekwondo Federation.

The 2015 IJF Judo World Championships next August are set for Astana, Kazakhstan. A brief closing ceremony transfer the flag of the Federation to the Kazakhstan organizers.

There are no championships for the Olympic year of 2016, while Hungary is in line for 2017. A championship in Japan, home to judo, is possible before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Vizer tells ATR.

Written by Ed Hula.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.