To our knowledge, Budokan Judo Club can boast that it is one of the 3 clubs in Australia (the other 2 being Sydney University and Illawarra International) who had a very high proportion of its club members involved in some form or other at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In Budokan's case, 12 of its members or about 50% of the club at the time, participated. That's quite amazing, and the club only needed to suspend training for a couple of weeks!! All who participated are still proud of their contribution and their achievement - we now all have a big place in Australia's history.

Morgan Endicott-Davies & Yvonne Mitchell Prior to the 2000 Oceania Championships, in the Men's 81kg category, Morgan Endicott-Davies was 1 of 3 athletes in contention for Olympic Men's Team selection. Similarly, in the Women's 57kg category, Yvonne Mitchell was 1 of 3 athletes in contention for Olympic Women's Team selection. Selection is these categories was so close that it ultimately depended on the result of the 2000 Oceania Championships. Unfortunately, both Morgan and Yvonne placed third in the Oceania selection, and had to be content with Shadow Team status for the Olympic Team. This is still a very impressive result, and the standard of their competition is illustrated by the fact that Maria Pekli, the Australian Women's 57kg representative, won a Bronze Medal in the Olympic Games competition, and Daniel Kelly, the Australian Men's 81kg representative, won 9th place in the Olympic Games competition. Congratulations to both Yvonne and Morgan for their dedication and spirit, and for coming so close to Olympic selection.

The following 12 club members were involved in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Congratulations go to all of them.

• Rob Katz - Originally a SOCOG Pioneer volunteer (1998-9), Secretary to the Sport Technical Advisory Committee for Judo (SOCOG STAC) in 1998-9, and then as a full-time SOCOG employee for 13 months. He was the Sport Services Manager, responsible for the IBM Results System and outputs, all technology support requirements, all manual processes in the Field of Play, and for the Draw at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Judo competitions.
  
  
• Kerrye Katz - Originally a SOCOG Pioneer volunteer (1998-9), and then as a full-time SOCOG employee for 3 months as the Field of Play Supervisor, she was responsible for the flow of athletes (and all covering processes and staff) from the Warm-Up mat area, through Athlete Control, Judogi Control, Staging, and then onto and from the competition area, at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Judo competitions.
  
• Ivor Endicott-Davies - As the International Federation Liaison Officer, he was responsible for providing a conduit between the Competition Manager and the IJF Technical Delegates, both prior to and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Judo competitions.
  
  
• Barbara Stratford - As Field of Play Marshall, she was responsible for access control during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Judo competitions.
  
  
• Di Pendlebury - As Athlete Escort, she was responsible for guiding athletes to and from the competition area, during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Judo competitions.
  
  
• Renee Pendlebury - As Field of Play Runner, she was responsible for assisting in the distribution of IJF result updates to competition officials, during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Judo competitions. Renee gained a love for running during her time as a volunteer.
  
  
• Dale Keogh - As Athlete Usher, she was responsible for assisting athletes and coaches to and from the competition area during the Paralympic Games Judo competition.
  
  
• Morgan Endicott-Davies - As Competition Management Driver, he was responsible for driving competition officials to meet their Olympic Games obligations.
  
• Yvonne Mitchell - As an assistant at the Training Site and then as a "demonstration" athlete during the rehearsals for the Olympic Games, she contributed to the realistic simulation of competition conditions.
  
  
• Daphne Pothin - As an assistant at the Training Site and then as a "demonstration" athlete during the rehearsals for the Olympic Games, she contributed to the realistic simulation of competition conditions.
  
  
• Jenny Gunther - As a "demonstration" athlete during the rehearsals for the Olympic Games, she contributed to the realistic simulation of competition conditions.
  
  
• Levi Pendlebury - (although not quite a club member, certainly counted as a Budokan Olympic supporter) As Field of Play Runner, he was responsible for assisting in the distribution of IJF result updates to competition officials, during the Paralympic Games Judo competition.

Post Sydney 2000 Games sees no relaxation for those involved in future major Judo projects.

2005 World Judo Championships - (Perth, Australia; REALLY??)

A Perth-based WA-Government sponsored organisation, EventsCorps, has bankrolled a serious Australian bid for the 2005 World Judo Championships to be staged in Perth. After the Olympic Games Judo competition concluded, the IJF Technical Delegates, Mr François Besson & Mr Jim Kojima visited Perth to meet with the company's organising staff. The bid is endorsed by the JFA(Inc.) President, Mr John Deacon, and key staff from the former SOCOG Judo team are providing important information to Eventscorps to enable the bid to be competitive. The Bid Committee comprises:
2 staff from EventsCorps, Mike Rees and Lydia Dowse,
John Deacon, JFA President,
Peter Herrmann, OJU Sports Director, and National Head Coach,
John Buckley, JFA NSW President and former SOCOG Tech.Ops Manager - Judo,
Rob Katz, JFA NSW Board Member, National Coach, and former SOCOG Sport Services Manager - Judo, (and Budokan Coaching Coordinator and President)
Ivor Endicott-Davies - former SOCOG IJF Liaison Officer, (and Budokan Life Vice-President)
Luis Val, former SOCOG Competition Manager - Judo,
Gail Galea - OJU Executive Director, JFA High Performance Manager

A pre-Bid document was lodged with the IJF earlier in the year and the complete Bid document and Bid presentation will provided at the IJF Congress, held on 23rd July 2001, in conjunction with the Munich 2001 World Championships. The Bid is both attractive and innovative, providing mechanisms to help improve attendance by countries not normally able to afford to attend. It's aim is to be the "biggest and the best World Championships ever". Rob Katz was in Germany coaching the National Men's Team whilst Congress was convened, but unfortunately was unable to attend. Disappointingly, the magic words spoken by the IJF President, Mr Park: "and the winning city is………….Perth!!" did not happen. The winning city was Cairo

2004 Olympic Games - Athens

Achilleas Tsogas was part of the Athens Olympic Organising Committee (ATHOC) initiative to send a number of Greek students to Australia during the lead up to and staging of the 2000 Olympic Games. In addition to being SOCOG Judo's Training Site Manager, Achilleas undertook the Masters of Sport Management program at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has been appointed as the Competition Manager for the 2004 Olympic Games. Since the Games concluded, some of the former SOCOG staff have been providing Achilleas with assistance producing the post 2000 Olympics and Paralympics Games reports that ATHOC requires. We wish Achilleas well in his future endeavours and look forward to hopefully playing some part in the delivery of the 2004 Olympic Games.

Budokan Judo Club. From the above articles, it is apparent that Rob's intention is to make a long and lasting contribution to Judo. As the Coaching Coordinators for the club, both he and Kerrye's priority is the continued development of Budokan Judo Club and its members. From September 2000 to July 2001, the Club's membership doubled to nearly 50 members, and by November 2001, nearly tripled with over 70 members, with a large Junior base rapidly building the foundations for the club's future. All members will be involved in future plans for growth of the Club. Rob is also President of the Budokan Committee and Kerrye is Treasurer.

JFA(NSW). At State level, in November 2000, Rob was elected to the JFA(NSW) Board of Management as a Counsellor and at the 2001 Congress in October, elected to Vice President. With four of the Board members all previously SOCOG staff members, John Buckley, Alan Broadhead, and Shane Alvisio, Rob plans to help NSW to get back on track. Rob is also Chairman of the Board's "Sport and Technical" Sub-Committee with representatives from the State's Technical Panel, club-colleague Paul Phillips (who is President of the NSW Black Belt Register), Grades Convenor, NSW National Coaching Accreditation Scheme Coordinator (Kerrye), and Referee's Commission.
In 2001, the Sub-Committee co-ordinated a rewrite of the State Team Selection Procedures and Selection Competition Format. They are also rewriting the NSW Sporting Code and Black Belt Grading Procedures. As JFA NSW National Coaching Accreditation Scheme (NCAS) Co-ordinator, Kerrye has been heavily involved in convening NCAS courses for NSW coaches.

In the coaching arena, for the 13 years between 1984 and 1996, Rob and Kerrye have, between them held 19 State Coach appointments in both NSW and Victoria for both Junior and Senior Teams. They will watch the progress of the NSW State teams over the forthcoming years with great interest.

JFA(Inc.) At National level, Rob and Kerrye have been included on the list of National Coaches for many years, and their nomination to remain on that list for 2001 and 2002 has been endorsed by JFA(NSW). Kerrye was National Women's Coach to the East Asian Games held in Osaka in May 2001 and was selected Women's Team Coach to the US Open in October 2001, although after the tragic events of 11th September, the JFA Inc elected not to send an official team. Rob was National Men's Coach to the World Championships in Munich during July 2001. Prior to 2001, between them, they have coached the following National Teams:

• Women's Team to 1987 (Essen, Germany) World Championships (Rob)
  
• Women's Team to 1988 Oceania Championships (Rob)
  
• Women's Team to the 1988 (Seoul) Olympic Games (Rob)
  Note: Kerrye was a Team member for the above 3 events
  
• Women's Team to the 1995 Pacific Rim Championships (Kerrye)
  
• Women's Team to the 1997 Paris World Championships (Kerrye)
  
• Men's Team to the 1997 Paris World Championships (Rob)

They were also selected (but declined because of their SOCOG work commitments) as the shadow (reserve) National Coaches for the Men's (Rob) and Women's (Kerrye) Teams for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.