To the Family of Simon Hicks:
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the International Judo Federation and its
Executive Committee, I am writing to you at once to express our most sincere
condolences over the loss of a good friend, colleague, coach and judoka, Simon
Hicks.
Simon was truly a pioneer in the promotion and
development of Judo as a worldwide Olympic sport. We had the great honor and
pleasure of working together with Simon to develop the television broadcasting
and video recording of our IJF events over the last ten years and will always
remember the countless conversations that we shared into how we could make Judo
an even more popular and well-followed sport throughout the world. His immense
passion and intensity for the promotion of Judo was both infectious and
invigorating. In fact, Simon's influence on how Judo could be organized and
promoted into a more fan-friendly, spectator sport are a major reason for
changes that were made to the presentation of Judo and the growing popularity
of the event at World Championship and Olympic events.
Simon will live forever in Judo history because he
will always be remembered for his beautifully videotaped and
documented highlights of the the World Judo Championships and the
Olympics. His video highlights were distributed to all member National
Federations within the IJF and were extremely popular and appreciated by all
who viewed them.
Simon will be sorely missed by all that had the
pleasure of knowing him and dealing with him, but his memory will always
be a part of the international Judo community. If there is anything
that we can do to be of assistance to you in this time of mourning, please do
not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely,
Yong Sung Park
President
International Judo
Federation Yours sincerely,
Yong Sung PARK
President, International Judo Federation
Member, International Olympic Committee