Catherine (Cathy) Fleury, World and Olympic Champion and an IJF supervisor, was impressed by the commitment of each competitor who showed up on the tatami: "We can see that there is already a real quality in the judo that was on display today. Obviously, these are athletes under construction, but I saw beautiful things. In the first rounds, we still saw significant differences in level, which is logical in juniors. I really liked the Russian Konstantin SIMEONIDIS. He was very clean technically and really impressive."
Giuseppe (Pino) Maddaloni, Olympic Champion in Sydney and an IJF supervisor, was also captivated by what he saw: "It was pretty incredible to see this quality of judo from the juniors. There was an excellent spirit throughout the day, with great respect, as well as beautiful attitudes. I found the overall performance of the Brazilian team particularly interesting. We will have to follow them closely in the years to come."
Neil Adams, World Champion and Olympic medalist and IJF supervisor here in Marrakech, said: "The start of the competition has been rather slow, but as the rounds progressed, we saw more and more beautiful judo. I would like to see even more focus on getting scores. Some coaches still make the choice of tactics, but the only tactic that is worth is that of attack and beautiful judo. But we are on the right track."
Finally, Haruki Uemura, World Champion and Olympic Champion, President of Kodokan and member of the IJF Executive Committee, had a particularly keen interest in the behavior of judokas: "This is obviously an important event and the organizers made a lot of efforts to make it a success. I am really happy with the hospitality that is offered to us in Morocco. I noted, that there is really a lot good things when it comes to the etiquette, especially with the bow at the beginning of the matches. There is still work on the bow at the end. But everyone made efforts. It is important to understand that one learns much in victory, but in defeat as well and we need to respect our opponent all the time. It is with our cadets and juniors that we must work for the future. I am please with what I have seen."