No major event without the athletes. No major event even without the volunteers. But foremost … no major event without the fans neither. And here at the Gymnastics Arena in Baku, competition arena of the 2018 IJF Judo Worlds, they are definitely omnipresent! Nations flags scattered throughout the arena give away the alliances of the beholders.

“The fans have been absolutely fantastic, and they have created such a great atmosphere in this building,” says IJF Competition Manager Lisa Allan. “Moreover, they are supportive to all the athletes, not only to the local judokas. They are appreciating the high-quality judo they see. As an organizer we are really pleased with the turnout. We had a full house during the weekend. But not only in the weekend, when people are free, but also during the week, we had a great number of fans turning up so far.”

Indeed, the fans come in droves to attend this major IJF event here in Baku. And they are loud and boisterous, boosting the athletes to even better performances on the tatami.

We have to admit. Impeccable behavior from all fans though. No booing of athletes, on the contrary, only shouts of encouragement. Roaring, yelling, shouting, whooping, … but no booing. However, when the Azerbaijani judokas enter the main stage then all hell breaks loose, and the atmosphere reaches boiling point. And when local judoka Hidayat Heydarov (-73kg) won a bronze medal – so far, the only Azerbaijani to medal at this championship – the roof went off. An avalanche of cheers burst throughout the venue like a discharge of emotions bottled up inside for too long. Yes it can get a bit rowdy …

The local kids love it. “I’m here with my friends from school”, says 12-year old Ruslan. “Judo is such a great sport. We have a nice time here watching the competition. All these athletes are strong! Of course Team Azerbaijan is my favorite team!”

Ito is Japanese, and you can recognize him in the bleachers wearing what he calls ‘a traditional Japanese hat’. He’s part of a group representing a Japanese company of machinery with a local branch here in Baku. They can be recognized wearing yellow t-shirts showing the company logo occupying one wing in the stands. They’re pretty loud as they want to over-shout the Azerbaijan fans when supporting for the Japanese contenders here at the championship. “The Abe siblings are very strong,” Ito comments. “I’m so pleased they both became World Champion. Japan is coming in strong at these Worlds. So far we have won at least one medal in each category.”

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