At 14:00 sharp, Dr Lisa Allan, IJF Events Director, opened the official draw and presented the guests: from the International Judo Federation, General Secretary, Mr Jean-Luc Rougé, Education and Coaching Director, Mr Mohamed Meridja and Director General, Mr Vlad Marinescu. From France Judo, the President, Mr Stephane Nomis, Vice President, Mrs Frédérique Jossinet and Vice President and General Treasurer, Mr Nasser Nechar.
During his introductory speech, Jean-Luc Rougé, Secretary General of the IJF, declared, "I want to wish a happy new year to all the participants and above all excellent health. On behalf of President Marius Vizer and the entire Executive Committee, I would also like to welcome you to Paris. Thank you to France Judo for facilitating the organisation of this event. We are now looking towards the next Olympic Games, which will take place in France in 2024. We have the pride of having organised magnificent Games last year in Tokyo and as such, we received the congratulations of the International Olympic Committee, in particular concerning our qualification system. We will continue to keep judo alive."
It was then the turn of the President of France Judo, Stéphane Nomis, to speak, "Thank you dear Jean-Luc. Over the past few months we have shown great unity to maintain fairness for all judoka from all countries, while being faced with a health and political situation that is not easy to manage. I would like to thank President Marius Vizer for the confidence he places in us for the organisation of this legendary tournament, the 51st edition. We were able to unite around our values and our moral code which are part of the DNA of our sport. I would like to wish good luck to all the participants and to reiterate my thanks to all the volunteers and staff of the IJF and those of France Judo for the extraordinary work they provide."
Dr Lisa Allan then declared, "The IJF appreciates the professional collaboration from the local organisers for their hard work in the preparation of this event and I offer special thanks to the local sponsors for their support. We are grateful to all the participants for their respect for the French Government and IJF Covid regulations. Let us follow the rules to have a successful event." She underlined the necessity of following strict rules, that for many months have allowed judo to keep running, "The safety of everyone is our top priority. People stay in hotel bubbles and move to sports hall bubbles, wearing masks properly, sanitising hands regularly and keeping distance."
The competition takes place on four tatami, with the preliminaries starting at 10:30a.m. on Saturday and11:00 on Sunday. The final block is at 5:00p.m. each day. During the breaks there are animation programmes for the spectators and on Saturday at 4:30p.m. there will be an opening ceremony.
It was then the turn of Mr Mohammed Meridja, IJF Director of Education and Coaching, to address athletes from all over the world in order to explain the judogi control rules which will be applied from this weekend.
IJF New Judogi Rules to be applied from the Paris Grand Slam 2022
1. The distance between the sternum top and the lapel crossing point must be less than 10cm.
2. The crossing points of the jacket, at belt level, must be at least 25cm.
3. The jacket must cover the buttocks completely, plus 5 to 10cm.
4. Judogi sleeves must cover the full arm, including the wrist.
5. The Sokuteiki must slip inside the sleeves entirely and smoothly.
6. The belt must be fixed around the waist above the hip bone and tied very tightly.
7. Each piece of equipment and the belt must have the IJF optical logo.
The technical part of the official draw was led by Vlad Marinescu, IJF Director General, who also explained, "We have been managing the safety of everyone during our events and in judo in general for more than a year. This is a great success for our sport and federation. We proved that despite the difficulties, it was possible to find solutions and to implement them. All nations have been committed to follow the rules. Their dedication and professionalism helped us for instance to have a really successful event less than a week ago in Portugal and now we are about to commence this legendary Paris Grand Slam. This is the first grand slam of the season, a season that is going to be exciting and promises to make us live our passion for judo. During the next two days, we will be looking at all the judoka, the rookies who are discovering the top level, as well as the heroes from Tokyo who are back in numbers. Thanks to the tremendous work of everyone, at all levels, I am convinced that this edition of the Paris Grand Slam will be a great success."
Looking more closely at the draw, which is available HERE, we will follow the French armada closely, at home and keen to please and honour their audience. With a total of 55 athletes, the host country should retain a good slice of the pie. Will the French world and Olympic medallists be there in good shape? Amandine Buchard, Sarah Léonie Cysique, both individual silver medallists in Tokyo, Madeleine Malonga, Romane Dicko or Axel Clergé, also Olympic medallists, could well thrill the French public.
Korea, which made a strong impression in Portugal a week ago by finishing in first place among nations, will be present again with 11 competitors. Their European tour looks promising.
We will obviously have great pleasure to find on the tatami of the AccorHotels Arena, a Japanese delegation of first choice. A new Olympic cycle begins, during which Japan will no longer have automatic qualification. Not too much to worry about however for the Japanese judoka, but they will have to get the points and it begins in Paris.
Israel, preparing for its own Grand Slam in two weeks, is present in Paris with its men's team, led by Sagi Muki and Peter Paltchik. Once again we will watch the state of form of these great champions.
Barbara Matic, the first Croatian world champion in history, crowned last year in Budapest, will also be part of the Parisian party, as will legend Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO). There are so many top athletes who are returning to competition here in Paris and even if we say that there are only 285 athletes in total, while the Olympic qualifications have not yet started, the quality and the level that will be on display are just outstanding! So one thing is guaranteed, the Paris Grand Slam is a legendary event and the 2022 edition will be no exception to the rule.