Marius Vizer (born 7 November 1958) is a Romanian former

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

ka and judo coach, and businessman. Since 2007, he has been the president of the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

. Vizer also holds an Austrian passport.

Judo

Between 1995 and 2001, he was President of the Romanian Judo Federation. Between 2000 and 2007, Vizer was President of the

European Judo Union The EJU consists of 51 national Judo federations/associations, and is itself recognised by the IJF as one of five continental unions. The organisation of the administration of Judo is based on a pyramid system of regulations, with the IJF the wo ...

. And between 2013 and 2015, he was President of the

SportAccord Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) is the umbrella organisation for all (Olympic and non-Olympic) international sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international association ...

. Since 2007, he has been the president of the

. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, all 31 of the other international Olympic sports organizations banned Russian athletes. Vizer, a long-time close friend of Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, wanted instead to let Russians and Belarusians continue to compete as neutral athletes. Finally, both national federations withdrew of their own accord, until June 2022 when they again competed. Ukraine boycotted IJF events beginning in June 2022 because the Russian team was allowed to compete in and entered competitions. Judo is one of the few

Olympic sports Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an Sports governing body, inter ...

which goes against the recommendation of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Business

He settled in Austria as a judo coach. In the 1990s, Vizer started importing vegetables and fruits from Romania to Austria, especially apples, while he exported banana and orange wagons to Romania. He then organized Telebingo in Romania, in collaboration with TVR, until the National Lottery closed it. He was the owner of the football clubs FC Bihor,

Olimpia Salonta Clubul Sportiv Municipal Olimpia Salonta, commonly known as Olimpia Salonta, is a Romanian professional football club based in Salonta, Romania, founded in 1911. Currently the team plays in Liga V. History CSM Olimpia Salonta was founded in 191 ...

and

FC Sopron FC Sopron was a Hungarian football club from the town of Sopron, near the Austrian border. It was founded in 1921 as ''Soproni Postás''. The club's home stadium is Stadion Városi with a capacity of 5,300. With the beginning of the season 2007 ...

Personal life

In 2015, Vizer married former Romanian singer Irina Nicolae after years of dating. They live in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. On 2 February 2018, his wife gave birth to the couple's child, Scarlett-Maria. He holds a 7th dan black belt in judo. He has a long friendship with Russian President

for more than 25 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vizer, Marius 1958 births Living people People from Bihor County Romanian male judoka Judoka trainers Romanian sports executives and administrators Romanian expatriates in Hungary Austrian expatriates in Hungary Naturalised citizens of Austria Austrian people of Romanian descent