Judo In Montenegro

that he should be careful because his opponent was very strong and successful.
What he wanted often would not come true but one thing never
happened – he never thought of giving up his goal.
Before the greatest success achieved by Bečanovič at the 1987 European
Championship in Paris and the 1989 World Championship in
Belgrade, there were uncertainties in professional circles about his techniques,
which were considered not fully developed and mature enough
for top international results and his perfomance was believed to be very
flawed in terms of technique.
On one occasion, after the national team’s preparations for the European
Championship in Novi Sad, Bečanović approched me as a member
of the Expert Council of the Judo Union of Yugoslavia asking me
to inquire with the national team coach Mrvaljević why Cuk (Slovenia)
was on the team and not him.
I asked Mrvaljević the question and he, in the presence of Bečanović,
replied:
“Cuk is an older and more experienced competitor. If I put on Bečanović
on the team and he loses, everybody will blame me”.
When I informed Mrvaljević that Slavko Obadov, the national team
coach at the preparations, said that Bečanović was by far the best and
should be put on the team, he added:
“Bečanović’s performance is with many shortcomings, he is not at
his best when it comes to grappling, and, in addition to this all, his flexibility
is poor.”
Bečanović laughed and I asked Mrvaljević: “How is it that Bečanović
has done so well with so many weaknesses and what are we supposed
to do with those competitors who “lack nothing” but out of Yugoslavia
are always eliminated in the first round?” Mrvaljević stuck to the view
that he had chosen well and that the issue of “the first list” in that class
(under 65 kg) was to be resolved after the national championship.
In 1987, in Paris, just before the start of the European Championship
Bečanović told his fellow national team members:“Today I’ll kill them
all”. It did not surprise the athletes because it was not the first time for
Bečanović to make such a confident statement, but the coach also heard
it and commented: “He is crazy, he has no idea where he is now”!
166