Yasuhiro Yamashita was selected by the Japanese Judo Federation’s board of directors to take control of the boards “declaration to eradicate abuse” with in the federation.
Over the past few months there have been allegations from 15 top female judo wrestlers of being physically abused by their former coach, and this has caused huge concerns with in the sport. This action is one of many that they have taken in order to eliminate any further abuse in the future. A good summary article of the scandal can be found at japantimes.co.jp “Judo culture needs to change”.
Yamashita is a highly respected member of the Judo community, during his career he earned 5 gold medals and had 203 consecutive victories. He retired in 1985 and became the International Judo Federation’s Director of Education in September, 2003.
For more information on Yasuhiro Yamashita you can view his Wikipedia page here.
