Aikido in the Olympics

Ubaldo & Peter,

Hope you don't mind a bit of noise from me at this point.

In my experience of judo in the US (over the past 47 years) most of the clubs/dojo are doing kyogi judo (sport)as opposed to tadashi judo ("proper" judo or principle based practice) and even the ones who say they aren't interested in sport or tournaments are doing techniques that have been altered to fit what wins in today's "koka judo" style.

The style of technique and the philosophy being taught by most of these "coaches" is based on what will win without going through the process of learning good judo. I have seen quite a few national level competitors who, in my estimation, don't know judo and have no hope of teaching judo properly to others. They were good athletes and scrappers and were taught just enough to win. These "coaches" want to be known as teachers of champions. In the end, this style of judo will evolve into something that is so non-judo-like that it will obviously not even be thought of as judo anymore. I suspect it's not far from that now.

As you can see, I have a strong opinion about this. It breaks my heart.

Regards,

Actually, if you are taking Judo as an example, worldwide membership dropped from its peak of 12 million in the 1980's, when it was at its most popular, to under 4 million in the late 90's, after sponsorship based competition and 'payed' Judo came more powerfully into being. There are a lot less clubs now, after it became a 'sport'. The same would happen in aikido.
I haven't read all the posts on this thread, so forgive me if I've repeated what someone else has said.

Popularity rises and falls but interesting point.

I always understood that sports with a professional component do better membership wise since they are in the public eye. Then again, I religiously avoid "popular" sports - I like to be relatively unique. Maybe from a martial arts perspective I am not so unique after all.

By the way wasn't Judo a sport during the 1980s?

Originally posted by mj Actually, if you are taking Judo as an example, worldwide membership dropped from its peak of 12 million in the 1980's, when it was at its most popular, to under 4 million in the late 90's, after sponsorship based competition and 'payed' Judo came more powerfully into being. There are a lot less clubs now, after it became a 'sport'. The same would happen in aikido. I haven't read all the posts on this thread, so forgive me if I've repeated what someone else has said.

Yes, but it was only in the 80's onwards that Japan's grip on all the different weights in world/olympic competition was prised loose. The start of the downfall of Judo as a MA was when different weight divisions were brought in, very early, which - again - changes the way people teach and learn.
Professional sports make more money, they weed out smaller clubs very quickly and cherry pick only the best competitors to stay around, usually (usually) as children.

Originally posted by mj Professional sports make more money, they weed out smaller clubs very quickly and cherry pick only the best competitors to stay around, usually (usually) as children.

(The number of football [soccer] clubs around the UK playing at every level would suggest that this is not the case. Unless you mean professional martial arts clubs.)

If aikido developed into an international/Olympic sport who would compete?