The German Olympic Martyna Trajdos was filmed by marching to her judo fight with coach Claudiu Pusa at the Tokyo Olympic Games, when she brutally shook her and slapped her in a ritual prior to the competition. The moment went viral“ Raising Conerns about the methods of welfare and training of the athlete. Trajdos, shortly after, reassured everyone through Instagram, “As I said, that is the ritual that I chose the previous competition! My coach is just doing what I want to do to say goodbye! “
However, it does not matter the athlete’s public support to his coach, the International Judo Federation Issued an official warning Towards Pusa:
“The IJF addressed an official warning would be towards the German coach, with respect to the bad behavior that the competition showed. Judo is an educational sport and, as such, cannot tolerate such behavior, which goes against the moral code of judo.”
The incident triggered many conversations on social networks if the coach’s behavior was abusive, and many defended this practice.
“Anyone who has performed judo or combat sports understands“,”
“This is normal for some disciplines ”,
“In weightlifting, athletes are also slapped before stepping on the dock,”
“It’s normal, relax. I am a sports coach in the specialization of France in Greco Roman. We do it all the time even with our children 6-U. My old coach sucked to hit me on the groin if I were not paying attention.”
“All this is your own application”,
“It was his own request to say goodbye. I would do it because my own coach would do the same”, “,”, ”
“It does not go against your will”,
“Damn it, I would change my coach if I didn’t slapped me before a fight,”
“It was the personal choice of the athlete to be motivated that way, not that of his coach,”
“As long as she agrees, she should be fine.”
“It didn’t hurt, what is the problem?”
The key questions are thus posed with respect to the safeguarding in sport:
1) Should rituals, even if it is violent, be accepted and normalized to your sports speeches?
2) Does the fulfillment or consent of an athlete always constitute sufficient evidence of non -falsification?
Althegh Judo, like other martial arts, cultivates a culture of respect, discipline and coexistence, There are accusations Which must adopt outdated training practices of violence and abuse. A marriage arts coach, Sensei, It is of ashes seen omnipotent That can further challenge the already complex power relations of athlete coaches. In 2013, The female Olympic judo athletes in Japan were beaten with bamboo swords and slapped by their coaches. The Sports Minister of Japan, Hakubun Shimomura, described the scandal that surrounds the abuse of the national chief coach Ryuji Sonoda on female athletes such as the “Most serious crisis in Japan sports history” And according to the reports, he said: “It is time for Japan to change the idea that the use of sports violence, including physical discipline, is a valid form of coaching.”
Given this context, how could a judoka who was slapped by his coach on live television at Tokyo Olympic Games not generate serious concerns among officials?
“But this was the choice of athlete. ”
Is this a satisfactory argument against any skepticism that surrounds the coach’s behavior? Well, not quite. The rituals in sport are social and cultural constructions: the product of the environment and the institutions in which athletes and cultural assumptions are cultivated about ‘what does an athlete’ of that sport. Athlete behaviors can be understood Within two frames: a) The orientation of social approval objectives Or its sports subculture. It is possible that athletes wish to participate in some practices and ‘initiation rites’, but this does not mean that they are always good for them (See the example of initiation ceremonies); b) The psychosocial context of sports ethics that emphasizes extraction. The abuse in sport is seen as the expression of excess commitment athletes to performance ethics (See the doping example). It dominates organized sport and has made it very difficult to permeate sports cultures with truly Athlete centered Coaching approaches.
The behaviors that were tolerated in the past have later delineated as abuse in sport. Our knowledge about the safeguarding in sport continues to present. Although it does not argue that the case of trajdos constitutes abuse, its history unpacked negotiated constructions that require more attention in the safeguarding in sport.
Dr. Dikaia Chatziefstathiou is the director of the research environment of the School of Psychology and Life Sciences at the University of the Church of Christ of Canterbury, United Kingdom and reader in Olympic studies and the social analysis of sport. He leads the University Research Group on the Human Rights of athletes and the safeguarding in sports.
