Thirty Mongolians from a Judo club made their way to Long Beach for the 2011 World Championship. Photo: Ivan Trindade
The list of reasons so far that show why you should follow, support, watch and enter the 2013 World Championship is strong. Number twelve is no different as we give you and your whole country reasons to join in May 29 – June 2.
Reason #12: See people from all over the world reach the podium and prove evolution
As if we don’t have enough politics in the realm of sport Jiu-Jitsu, the presence of nationalism can create unnecessary tension. Jiu-Jitsu is Jiu-Jitsu and claiming its roots in Brazil is necessary in terms of history and lineage but associating nationalities with the art only serves as another divide. All politics aside, though, non-Brazilians on the top spots of the podium have a way of determining expansion and evolution.
We don’t need new teams in the form of countries or ethnicities but taking note of non-Brazilians and even non-Americans proves a lot. These places can be less privileged and the people training have less advantages as they are from a country that has not harbored great training for many years. Just a sample of athletes shows evidence of this evolution.
People such as Sebastian Brosche and Alexander Trans from Denmark, Oliver Geddes and Luke Costello from Britain, Dais Yoshioka and Daisuke Nakamura from Japan, Ida Hansson from Sweden, the Iturralde brothers Francisco “Sinistro” and Leo from Ecuador, and the troop of Mongolians who took home medals from the 2011 Worlds.
Even for the Americans to top the podiums at black belt at the mundials or even in other organizations like Abu Dhabi World Pro and Copa Podio it still not as rare. Rafael Lovato, Jr. made his way to an absolute black belt title at the Brazilian National as the first American. Clark Gracie, Orlando Sanchez, JT Torres, DJ Jackson, Mackenzie Dern, Tanner Rice, Aj Agazarm, Keenan Cornelius, Gianni Grippo and more are making names for themselves amongst the many champion Brazilians in their categories.
Represent your team and your country. Register for the worlds and let your country be recognized and in doing so, show that Jiu-Jitsu is excelling in even the farthest corners of the Earth. Click here to sign up!
