Charles Palmer (judoka)
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Charles Palmer Kodokan | |
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Rank | jūdan (10th dan) Senior Instructor at the Budokwai President of the British Judo Association President of the International Judo Federation Chairman of the British Olympic Association |
Charles Stuart William Palmer
Sports career
Charles Palmer first took an interest in judo at the age of 14 while attending Drayton Manor High School. He joined Ealing Judo Club by claiming that he was 16 years old. In 1948, under the teachings of Gunji Koizumi and Trevor Leggett of the Budokwai, he was awarded the grade of 1st dan black belt.
At age 18, Palmer was called up for
In 1951 Palmer went to Japan to further his judo studies. With a job as security guard at the
On his return from Japan, Charles Palmer and fellow 4th dan, Geof Gleeson, joined Gunji Koizumi and Trevor Leggett as Senior Instructor at the Budokwai. He won a place in the British judo team in the 1957 European Championships. With Gleeson as captain in 1955 - 1958, this team won the championship for three years in succession.
As a Judo competitor, he was a formidable opponent. He had a short, powerful build, weighing some 225 lb for a height of 5 ft 8½ in. Opponents remembered him as 'an irresistible tank on two legs'. He was difficult to shift off balance, and his speciality was a devastating inner thigh throw (
Later career
Palmer then retired from major competition and concentrated on Judo and sports administration. In 1961 Palmer became Chairman of the British Judo Association, a post he held for the next twenty-four years. During this time, Palmer was also elected President of the British Judo Association (BJA).
At the 1965 International Judo Federation (IJF) Congress held in
He persuaded the
In 1983 Charles Palmer was successful in an election for the post of Chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA). During his period of office had to contend with much political wrangling; he had been influential in the decision of the BOA to send a team to attend the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, in opposition to the opinion of the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (which he felt had cost him the possibility of a knighthood).[2]
He received an honorary 10th dan in 1997 from the IJF, becoming one of the few living jūdan.
Personal life
Palmer had a flamboyant personality with a somewhat overbearing and confrontational manner that earned him many enemies. For many years he smoked expensive cigars. When he came back from Japan, he drove around Kensington in a
In the 1990s his health began to fail, but he continued to attend and preside over BJA Annual General Meetings. He was taken to hospital on 16 August 2001 where he died the next day at the age of 71.
References
- ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 45860". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1972. p. 11.
- ^ "Charles Palmer". The Daily Telegraph. 20 August 2001. Retrieved 21 July 2015.