Japanese Olympic Committee Cuts Funding For All Japan Judo Federation Amid Abuse Scandal

The Japanese Olympic Committee said Tuesday that it "has cut funding for the All Japan Judo Federation and ordered it to take preventive measures as punishment for coaches' abusive training of female judokas," according to the AP. The JOC also cancelled a $260,000 "annual subsidy for the federation for this year." The JOC directive also included a ban on violent coaching, "more transparency in team selections and increased hiring of female coaches." The JOC has also "established an anonymous reporting system for any violence, harassment or misconduct in sports." A committee of JOC executives and an outside lawyer have concluded after careful review that "serious misconduct had occurred" during judo training, the JOC said in a statement (AP, 3/19). REUTERS reported the JOC has promised to take steps to wipe out violence among its sports federations after a survey revealed more than 10% of its athletes "had been victims of bullying or harassment." JOC Dir Tsuyoshi Fukui said, "We all have to recognize that we must move toward eradicating this (violence). We have to accept that these results from the survey are extremely serious." The report released at a JOC executive board meeting on Tuesday showed 11.5%, or 206, of the 1,798 athletes who responded to its survey said that "they had been bullied," Kyodo news agency said (REUTERS, 3/20).