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Interview: President EJU Marius Vizer

28th June 2005 CAIRO - This interview by Yasir Ayoub was drawn up when Marius Vizer visited the organizing city Cairo to the forthcoming world championships.

The Scene was thrilling and worth attention, a foreign man staying angrily in one mid night cafees in Cairo City – Abass Elakad street . He was disappointed of the waiter who took the cup, which he saw almost empty, whereas the man insists it was not, that he must enjoy it till the last drop. This would not have been important or thrilling, except that the angry foreign man was Marius Vizer. President of Judo Europe Federation (JEF (EJU)) who paid 2-day visit to Cairo.

This visit was not my First acquaintance with the President of JEF. It was first time to see him …..We talked and chatted through E-mails. Few hours before publishing this electronic dialogue, Marius called to tell me he is on his way to Cairo. Being aware of no difference between computer and flesh – blood dialogue, questions and answers, I decided to delay publishing the dialogue. On the contrary, I found out the big difference between cool words, written by dead keyboard and words and impressions made by proximity, vision and livelihood. For instance in the first interview, he introduced himself, to me and my readers, as President of JEF, for the last five years, and good businessman in contracting and trade. His ambition is to be President of International Judo Federation (IJF) in next September's elections. But, upon staying with him in Cairo's hotels, streets, restaurants and cafes, I had to correct all information about him as JEF President, businessman or even as human being, his family, house, agonies, successes and failures .

Marius Vizer was born in 1958 in Tinka – Romania ….Here , he smiles …. It is not enough to say that I am Romanian …… he was born in Romania, where he lived during his childhood and youth.

Afterwards, escaping the atrocities of dictator Chauchescu regime , he and his family immigrated to Austria where he stayed in Vienna and got Austrian nationality. Days and years passed to take him to Budapest – Hungary, where he made his house, company and empire with frequent stopovers in Paris, Amsterdam and Monaco. For Madrid, he is often there as one of the partners sponsoring Real Madrid Club.

Yet !! Marius never forget days of poverty in Tenka City or memories of sadness and suffering , he even asked me , if this dialogue is written, to send for him a copy of this magazine, to take it to his mother …. He is really interested ….. shall be always happy that they both went well against poverty and sufferings .

In his early childhood, he started playing Judo when he was 13 years old, which made him happy and satisfied …. He laughed to say that he was important and strong … but soon he confirms his more success as trainer than player. Even often his retirement, he cannot be apart from Judo which changed his whole life and made all subsequent successes ….. Asked why? He said Judo, for those who does not understand its rules , depends upon physical strength…… which is untrue , Judo is a mental game. Intelligence in Judo lies in the mental technique in moving your or opponent's body to the4 direction, determined by your brain and will. The more Judo player develops his intelligence, alertness, wit as he does for his weight and physical fitness, the more changing, his life, ideas and decisions shall be.

Marius never expresses in the same way as any official or player does about the sport he loves …. He has so much strong conviction that one of his most important decisions was the opening of Judo school in the City of his birth and early years in Romania, when he collected orphan and poor boys and taught them everything about Judo. He said he never taught them Judo as a sport or luxury but as away of handling life.

Looking at me with his winning thrilling eyes, he asserts that those orphan and poor boys became highly successful doctors, engineers and lawyers in Romania and different Europe countries, his corporations and economic empires became dependant upon them after their success in life.

Now, what about Marius the President of JEF, He thinks that of he was personally successful in his Judo school in Tinka City, France was the forerunner in the global scale …. The French Judo Federation (FJF) applies various programs for refining their ethics and prospective psychological preparation within the scale of such projects , they have more than one million boys.
More interesting is the French official follow-up, measuring of their behavior and ethics development. The results were astounding. Asking about applying such programs in Egypt, he said that Egypt , As any other country needs such projects. Success of Matilda Muaba in Zambia is unimaginable …. She decided to collect young homeless and street boys , taught them how to play and be absorbed in Judo rules and philosophy. They voluntarily Judo and be absorbed in the rules and philosophy of the sport. They voluntarily gave up violence, crime and vagabondary to become more disciplined. She became for them or even for all Zambian children Mummy Judo ….. I think all world countries need Mummy Judo and Judo sports.

I had to ask " Was one of your ambitions to be JEF president ?
Never planned or thought of for long years, "He said " . Sitting in the chair of JEF president of my lifetime loving sports may be related more to fate and destiny than an ambition with planning, preparation and thinking. Yet , he was sure of his success and full change of his life because of his understanding, love and exercise of this sport. Asked about any personal thinking of any comparison with Johansson; President of Europe's Football Federation, he laughed wholeheartedly at the idea, which is untrue, because both of them chose the game he liked and enjoyed most and he is not special case, as there are globally important and successful persons who played Judo and retired without abandoning their love or interest. Actually, there are major personalities in the world who played Judo such as former US president T Roosevelt, former Canadian Prime Minister Traudeau , Japanese PM Takashida and Serezio ,president of Guatemala. All of them played Judo and kept their interest regardless of their political occupations and successes.
Personally Marius has close relationships with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Prince Albert of Monaco. Marius has highly endeared his friendship with President Putin who always meets him to recall Judo memories.

JEF President assures that Putin was very strong, smart and unique player and could have been Judo world champion but for his interest in being strong ,successful great president of Russia. About Albert, Prince of Monaco, he considers him a great man foe supporting him and JEF in various events.

He said that the Judo school was his personal love, whereas the football one is highly profitable to him, but this does not mean the absence of payment for football school, as he recently made special playground, which is the best in Romania.

"Few in the world know that the great super star player Haggy started as super judo player . In the Junior Romanian championship finals, he was beaten, not for his opponent's strength but for the referee's unfair and mistaken decisions. He left the hall and decided to abandon Judo and started football and became super star, loved by the whole world.

Marius relationship with football went beyond his great love to Real Madrid, his old long relationship with Georghe Hagi Marius Lacatus, to take the only son of JEF president ….His name was Marius also. He is 20 years old and, like his father , started as Judo player but became one of the mad football fans. What is more interesting is that Marius used to pretend his dissatisfaction with his son's watching football matches at any time , for , while we were having dinner in a restaurant , he watched one of the TV English Soccer matches, he forgot everything about food to follow the match….. "LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON ".

Speaking about that son, his tone and features are completely changed, this is the only point of his weakness , the only unique and great love in the JEF president' life, which is not routine but rather very special and exceptional. After the birth of his son, his wife rejected the idea of having more children, despite Marius efforts to let her understand the history of his poor and small family, but no way; it was divorce but they agreed that no pressures upon their son's way of life who favored his father, hence he became his all family and dreams

Marius confided to me that he has hot love affair whom he deeply loved and was able to contain and understand him well. He laughed when I told him " I hope , as friend to meet this loving woman who was able to contain a man like him . Although I spent few hours with him, which is illogic to penetrate into any man's inner feelings, yet I could know a lot about him due to his openness and transparency, he told me frankly he treated me as a journalist in the first hour only, after which he felt I am something different and I asked him questions, never were asked by someone else before.
He was aware I am not just asking about Judo but looking for it in the mind of JEF president, for the man more than the position, for the life rather than the game, which he appreciated most. So we left papers and pens and went on in Cairo as two friends with a third one Eng. Motea Fakhreddin – President of Judo Cairo Area .
Marius began to forget formalities and became third friend who needed and liked to know more about Cairo. Although it was not his first visit, but the third one, it was the first to see it far from hotel halls, formal meetings and offices ….. In streets , restaurants and cafes, except for few hours to monitor Egyptian arrangements for World Judo Championship, next Sept, which the actual purpose of his visit to Cairo. Marius is real friend of Egypt, which is not out of courtesy. I never asked him as usually done by any journalist or TV man ." what do you think ……..your impression of Cairo or Egypt … but he detailed the ferocious battle , he waged during the General Assembly meetings of IF, two years ago, during which Egypt was nominated for the organization of 2005 Judo World Championship. Few in these meet6ings were convinced of Egypt's capability in this respect and Judo needs no such adventure. Marius was highly supportive of Egypt's right and efficiency and respect of its history and civilization.

Apart of all above, he reiterated his old and close relationship with Gen. Mobasher, President of Egypt's Judo Federation, who did good job with his colleagues and succeeded in hosting this championship despite ferocious battles with other aspiring countries at the expense of Egypt.

Marius came to Egypt to monitor, by himself, the latest arrangements for hosting such championship ….. It was not mandatory for him ……. not even incumbent upon him as JIF vice president …… It was his love for Egypt and his personal role in Egypt's success in organizing such championship which became his personal challenge regardless of the positions and their obligations.. He even confirmed to me that he actually invited his friends to come to Egypt next Sept. to watch Judo world championship …. He invited Hagi, Lacatus and the world veteran gymnastics champion, Nadia Komatchi who is very special to him and for his global success as one of the best ambassadors of Romania to the whole world .

Marius came to Egypt, after we met the nature of his visit has changed, it no longer became for inquiries about Egypt's arrangements and capabilities, to be provided by JEF, it also became a visit to Cairo …… All his time , he never stopped calling in his mobile phone to monitor all businesses in his economic empire in different European countries , or smoking his gorgeous davido cigar, which is one his personal indication of his success versus his early years of poverty……….his smart clothes not only for elegance or as commitment for the courteousness and elegance of man and European prominent position he is taking over , but acting psychologically as the role of the gorgeous cigar …….With expensive clothes, mobile and cigar, he could have been considered one of the eminent East Europeans from Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Check, currently prevailing all over Europe. But Marius had his own details , necessary for any one's vital and alert humanity. One of these details is his fondness of Turkish coffee, which he insists for asking for. His anger of the waiter of Abbas Akkad street restaurant was due to his conviction that the most delicious part of this coffee is its dust, flavor and taste in the cup bottom …………When we , Marius Mr.Motea and I were leaving Abushakra restaurant in Heliopolis and before entering the car , Marius saw old man sitting nearby…. He did nor grimace but gave him some money and returned silently…..

Written by Yasir Ayoub.
Ayoub is the media advisor to the forthcoming Judo World Championships.