George Kerr is the guy who owns the gym I made the website for... here's a little about him and you can see his judo training area which is part of the gym. Someone posted this on Liveleak and I just spotted it!
A British man has entered the realms of 'judo royalty'.
Only a handful of people - usually Japanese - are ever given the statusof 10th Dan in judo, but the honour has been bestowed on the Presidentof the British Judo Association, George Kerr.
It signs him up to one of the sporting world's most exclusive clubs andhe now joins the ranks of the Japanese masters who brought judo to theworld.
The Edinburgh-based 72-year-old was given the award by theInternational Judo Federation (IJF) in a ceremony at its "Grand Slam"tournament in Paris. It makes George one of only seven people in theworld today who hold the 10th Dan status as recognised by the IJF,judo's governing body.
The award recognises his life-time contribution to the sport as a competitor, coach, referee and administrator.
He said: "It's a great honour. I'm really over the moon and slightlyembarrassed at the same time because a lot of my Japanesecontemporaries, who are older then me and technically better than Iever was, have not been similarly recognised. But I'm delighted andit's a great achievement for Scottish and British judo. I think it'sgreat for my country."
The Dan is a grading in judo. Anyone starting judo begins with a whitebelt and works their way through yellow, orange, green, blue, brown andblack.
The black belt is known as a 1st Dan but very few reach the level of9th or 10th Dan, both of which are denoted by a red belt tied aroundthe judo suit. The only British 'judoka' to reach 10th Dan statuspreviously was Charles Palmer, who died in 2001.
Having grown up in Edinburgh, George Kerr won a scholarship to practicejudo in Japan, the home of judo, in 1957. Today, Britain's judo playerstravel back and forth to Japan on a regular basis but, in the 1950s, itwas a rare adventure.
"I couldn't fly to Japan in the 50s. I went by boat from Marseilles in4th class steerage. A £100 bought me a canvas hammock and a blanket.
"I spent four years in Japan. The first year was very difficult becauseI couldn't speak the language, but the whole experience gave me aninsight, not just into judo, but the moral code that it teaches - bepolite, never beat up an inferior opponent etc. I got that straightfrom the Masters themselves.
He added: "The most striking difference between Japan and the UK thenwas the level of training. At that time, judo players in Japan wouldtrain twice a day and do in a month what we in Britain would be doingin a year."
As a competitor, George was one of Britain's best and he won a gold medal at the European Championships in 1957.
He found success as a coach, too, guiding the Austrian PeterSeisenbacher to judo gold in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. He alsocoached at London's Budokwai Club where, in the 60s, he counted MickJagger as one of his students.
Subsequently, George founded the Edinburgh club which has produced astring of top-level judo players such as current day contenders EuanBurton, Sarah Clark, Sally Conway and James Millar.
Today, George combines his BJA duties with coaching youngsters at hisjunior judo club in Edinburgh. They know now, if they ever doubted it,that they are learning at the knee of the Master.