https://www.jiujitsutimes.com/2016-olympic-judo-bronze-medalist-beat-rio/
This article has a very clear bias, but I don't believe that lessens the validity of some of its points. Without more details of the assault, it would be difficult to proclaim this was a failure of the young man's technique, but at the least we can say it was a failure of the young man's self-defense training in not avoiding places and activities where the potential for conflict is high. But, as the article argues, this young man may never have trained in self-defense, only competition.
I’m not sure the article tells us that much, and it is certainly viewing the entire incident from a martial arts vs self-defence perspective.
LATER NOTE: It seems Jiu-jitsu Times have realised they were supplied with false information and have amended the article; it no longer has a discussion about sport vs self-defence as the main trust of the piece.
Other non-martial sources have also reported the incident:
http://qz.com/755610/a-belgian-won-the-bronze-medal-for-judo-went-out-to-celebrate-and-got-punched-in-the-face/
It paints a very different version of events:
Dirk Van Tichelt was also interviewed on TV:
So it seems he was trying to break up a fight. In such chaotic circumstances, no one’s face is “punch proof” so that fact he took a shot cannot really tell us much about how his training “fell short”. It’s also important to note that he was not fighting with a criminal here (as had been originally suggested), but trying to intervene in a situation between a good friend who has just been robbed (no doubt highly agitated) and a security guard who was doing his job.
According to the story, he got hit with a stray pouch from someone else’s exchange. Had Dirk Van Tichelt threw the security guard to the ground, then that that guard could have argued he was only doing his job when he was assaulted and injured by a Judo Olympian and his sparring partner.
It seems he was not mugged by two people, but was trying to break up a fight. The (original) Juijutsu Times piece is working on false information.
With 20 / 20 hindsight, Matthias Casse politely asking the security guard to call the police because there was a thief on their property would have been a good idea. Failing that, ask another member of staff, a passer-by or worst case scenario leave and call later himself. As it was it all got out of hand.
It seems Dirk Van Tichelt tried to break it all up and got hit by a stray punch in the process. The (original) Jiujitsu Times piece is therefore making conclusions from false information.
All the best,
Iain
I suppose that's a better story, at least for the gentleman involved. I knew the JiuJitsu Times article had an angle, but shame on them for making stuff up to fit their agenda, and shame on me for buying it...
I don’t think they made anything up. There was some legitimate confusion around what happened and conflicting reports originally. So while the facts were wrong, there was no attempt to misrepresent.
All the best,
Iain
Then you are kinder than I (and probably most people are). With the vast differences between the JJT story and what actually happened and the bent of the article, I am not inclined to be so charitable in my opinion of their journalistic integrity.
Unfortunately, it does all detract from their point regarding competition and self-defense and would have been a lovely anecdote for that discussion - if it had actually happened that way...