Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 248

been that way at the World
Federation for quite a few years now
and it’s not so bad.”
Is that the same as happened with
others like France and China?
“Every case is different. It only
happens in France with their
colonies in Oceania, which can
take part in the Oceania
championships but not in the
world championships. And the
same thing happens in Asia with
Macao, which is recognised by the
Olympic Council of Asia”
Are all the similar cases recognised
by
their
respective
Olympic
committees?
“There are lots that are. Hong
Kong has the same status as
Macao. That’s China. But their
Olympic Committee is recognised by
the IOC, whereas the Macao one
isn’t – just by the Asian one, the
Olympic Council of Asia. I was at the
AOC meeting in November 2012 and
Macao was there as a full member,
but they’re not recognised by the
International Olympic Committee.”
It’s quite a mess, whichever way you
look at it, although it seems clear that
the WKF does have grounds for
recognising
these countries
separately.
“Yes. Curaçao is another case,
where their Olympic Committee was
recognised by the IOC until eighteen
months ago but not anymore.”
Also, wasn't it William Millerson, the
WKF Vice-president, who was the
president of the Curaçao Olympic
Committee?
“Yes, that’s right, and he still is
and they still have an Olympic
Committee but they’re not
recognised by the IOC. But Aruba,
which is even smaller than Curaçao,
has an IOC-recognised Olympic
committee, and it has one member
who’s a member of the IOC and a
secretary who’s also an IOC
member.”
Wow! If the sporting politics of the
WKF have their idiosyncrasies, they’re
nothing alongside those of the IOC,
where everything is obviously a lot
more… strange, and even quite
incomprehensible at times.
“ Right now the re a re a lot of
w ome n w ho be ca use the y a re
women have certain rights. There
are cases where because they’re
women they have fewer rights than
men until they reach a certain level,
but a fte r that the y ha ve more
rights. The re ’s a ve r y va gue
dividing line, and once you cross
it…. Today, being a woman on the
I OC is a plus. S ome w ome n
wouldn’t be IOC members if they
weren’t female. They’re looking to
strike a balance and this is what
happens. It’s not fair, when you

“Our rules say
that hotels can’t
be luxury hotels,
not five stars but
four. They have to
be hotels that are
decent places”
compare them with some men who
are more deserving yet they’re not
members, but that’s life.”
I agree. There are some cases and
groups where striving for parity has led
to women rising into positions instead
of men where on merit or seniority they
wouldn’t yet be qualified. T