Peter Seisenbacher back in judo

Peter Seisenbacher will be the new and re-established team coach of Azerbaijan judo. The double Olympic Champion who contributed to the first ever World title for Azerbaijan will be installed soon. Seisenbacher was out of judo for a while after being accused for sexual abuse, but that was not proved yet and actually still under investigation according to the Austrian public prosecutor. The success coach is ready though to continue his job for a possible long term period of 5 years including the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. As long as he is not under remend he is allowed to go abroad.

On Friday Peter Seisenbacher will be announced as new coach after a break of two years during a presentation where vice president Sadig Sadigov will attend.

The Azerbaijan Judo Federation is in a process of an administration change, with new president and some board members. President Rovnag Abdullayev earned his reputation as CEO of the SOCAR oil company and has been president of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan since 2008. He is also member of National Assembly of Azerbaijan. Although he is not a judoka himself the 50 year old does understand leadership. Olympic Champion Elnur Mammadli remains his place as vice president. The idea to reinstall Seisenbacher is supported by the federations and some of the athletes who want their coach back in position who celebrated the successes with the 55-year old Seisenbacher.

In the latest IJF World Ranking Azerbaijan has two leaders in Rustam Orujov and Elmar Gasimov and Orkhan Safarov is ranked second. The strong categories are U60, U66 with Nijat Shikhalizada (ranked 8^th), U73kg and U100kg with both Gasimov as 2013 World Champion Elkhan Mammadov. At that World Championship also Orkhan Safarov medalled with bronze. Mamedov was not personally coaching Mammadov in the World Championships final in 2013 (Aghayar Akhundzada was) when he won the world title but was considered responsible for the final result.

Born in Vienna, Austria, Peter Seisenbacher was one of the most successful judokas of the 1980s, winning gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. He won the world title in 1985 in Seoul. In 1986, Seisenbacher also claimed the European Championship (one of 8 European medals) in Belgrade. Two years later, Seisenbacher returned to the Olympic Games and won a second Olympic gold medal in the 86kg class. As a coach he was successful with the Olympic title with Georgie for Lasha Shavdatuashvili aged 20.

In 2013 Peter Seisenbacher was among the first selection of judoka inducted in the IJF Hall of Fame.