With IJF Secretary General, Dr Lisa Allan, next to him on stage, Dr Martin Poiger, president of the Austrian Judo Federation, addressed the arena, “Dear secretary general, distinguished guests and delegations, I am really glad to welcome you to the third edition of the Upper Austria GP. It’s really nice to see how the event has developed over the three years. Our volunteers even given great feedback about the organisation.
Times are difficult globally but we still have 52 nations present in Linz and we are proud to welcome them. I have to thank the IJF for a strong collaboration. Thanks also to my team; a lot of people are involved from our general secretary and technical director to the whole staff. Huge thanks, last but not least, to the Upper Austria region for their support, without which the event would not be possible. I wish all of you great success and an enjoyable stay in Linz.
Dr Lisa Allan then offered the IJF welcome, “On behalf of the International Judo Federation and its president Mr Marius Vizer, it is an absolute honour for us to be here in Upper Austria in the beautiful city of Linz for this judo grand prix.
We are extremely grateful to the Upper Austria government, the Austrian Ministry of Sport, the Austrian Judo Federation and the local sponsors for their hard work and support in delivering this event. A big thank you to all the officials and volunteers who have also donated their time to help with the organisation. Your unwavering commitment, dedication and support have made this event a reality for the third time and we could not be here without you. Thank you to all the athletes, coaches and team officials and we wish everyone good luck.
I declare the Grand Prix Upper Austria 2025 officially open!”
The Austrian and IJF anthems then played ahead of a live discussion about International Women’s Day between the ceremony MC, Dr Lisa Allan and Austria’s Paris 2024 Olympic medallist Michaela Polleres. Rousing applause accompanied Polleres to the stage.
Dr Lisa Allan was asked to summarise judo’s position in terms of equality, “When we look at our current situation, we are really advanced in some areas, compared to other sports. Our athletes compete, men and women, under the same conditions, such as time, points, prize money, uniform. Our referees officiate regardless of gender. But in leadership positions, we are still behind where we need to be. We almost have parity within our referees, 7 women and 8 men here in Linz, for example. Among the technical officials it is also close.
It remains hard to be in a leading role in sport though. It can depend a lot on who supports you and who you have around you. The reality is that we need to have equal representation of men and women in all areas. Men need women in their teams and women need men in theirs.”
Michaela Polleres then talked about the positive life she has had in judo what it meant to win her Olympic medal last summer, her second after she won a silver medal in Tokyo 3 years before. A short clip of her winning her Paris Olympic bronze medal was shown, to the applause of the spectators in the arena.
The discussion finished just in time for the final block to begin and so it was a full day of activity for everyone present in the Tips Arena, spectators, officials, volunteers.