Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 257

Interview
have my successor lined up. But I
don’t think so. Imagine if I got run over
in the street and died. I’m sure they’d
come up with someone to replace me
before long. My body wouldn’t even
be cold and they'd have thought of
someone. Well, that’s the way it
should be, not making a big drama
about it. When the time comes
someone will emerge and that'll be
the end of it. What I have to do is tread
carefully in the sense of ensuring that
there’s some continuity, and that’s the
idea of the new restructuring that
we’re doing at the WKF office, so that
it’s based more on people in business
and in services, in
operations. We also
want some of the
office staff to be
exportable, so if the
incoming President
wants to take the
office abroad, they
can do that and take
them along so there’s
some continuity and
the least possible
impact. We want to
outsource the web
services, which has
now been done, and
the championship
services too, the
Premier League, and
that’s been done too.
We're also going to
continue
with
Sportdata, which is a
good company, and
we hope that the
three
European
Championships each
year and the annual
World Championships
will be done with
Sportdata. I don’t
have any successor in
mind and I don’t want
to have one. Whatever
happens will happen.
My experience tells
me that when you try
to decide something
knowing that you’ve
only got a tiny part of
the information that
you'll have when the
time comes, it’s best
not to start. It’s best
not to waste time on
that or have all those
headaches.
For
instance, I know that
by next year in
Bremen I’ll know
more. Now is not the
time. I’m sure I’d
clarify some things
but… there's no need.
Look, Salvador, in
1998 when I was

elected WKF president I had to
convene an Executive Committee
meeting the next day to choose a
vice-president, general secretary,
treasurer, and so on. I had an idea
about some but for the treasurer, for
example, I didn't have anyone in mind.
George Popper had been there for
many years but he wasn‘t elected in
Brazil, and he was also one of
Delcourt’s men, so he wasn’t wanted.
In 48 hours I had to make a decision.
You get by as best you can. I had a
look at the list of the Executive
Committee to see who couldn’t be
elected. It worked wonders. They

were only two people left in it and I
chose John Halpin, who was there
until he passed in 2007. That was the
best decision I made. I needed to
make it. Now it's best not to think
about that.”
Thank you for talking to us, and I
hope our chat has been of interest to
karateka.
“And thank you for your time.
You’ve got more than enough
experience and you’ll know how to
put my words in the right context.
I’m in good hands with you.”
That’s my aim, at least.
“And you certainly achieve it.”