Many new rules were tested in Paris. Among them a single referee on the mat with 2 others watching a monitor. A little earplug helped to keep in-touch.
While there were many occasions to smile during the days, the new rules left anyone who watched the matches with casual attitude (yes that does happen in sport!) bewilderd and confused. To everyone, except the few selected insiders, it became all the more complicated to follow and understand decisions. And the reversals for that matter.
For the competitors this was a times a testing situation. Not being allowed to grab/ hold a leg for offensive reasons caught several young competitors off-guard and out of the competition.
The lack of transparency to people who are not judoka is somewhat of a barrier for further expansion of this wonderful sport.
The atmosphere created in Paris was wonderful and provided several great angles for shooting pictures.
Sometimes the backdrops looked more like the pink neon signs to be found outside but I guess that made it special in many ways.
Clearly most of the events timing, structure of the competition and the whole set-up was geared towards being attractive to the electronic media.
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