JJI is official as of today

[Gringonaldo]

A group of Red Belt Grand Masters announced the formation of Jiu-Jitsu International in Rio De Janeiro Brazil today.

The elite of Jiu-Jitsu including João Alberto Barreto, Francisco
Mansur, Flávio Behring and Álvaro Barreto formed the organization as a non-profit association geared toward the inclusion of Jiu-Jitsu as part of the 2016 Olympics.

Jiu-Jitsu International will likely push for the Brazilian Olympic
Committee to endorse an arrangement similar to what Wushu enthusiasts were able to accomplish during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Wushu was not one of the 28 official Olympic sports, nor a demonstration event. Instead, it was called the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Wushu Tournament.

The association named John “PapaJohn” Gorman as the executive director of the organization. Papa John brings commercial business sense to the non-profit group, as he was formerly the executive director of Gracie Barra in the United States.

“Whether you call it a demonstration sport or an Olympic Games Jiu-Jitsu tournament, either way our sport will be included in the 2016 games if we organize now and put in the effort,” said PapaJohn.

Tatame.com reported earlier the group would work to guarantee recognition of Jiu-Jitsu by the International Olympic Committee, a requirement for inclusion in the games.

[Avenged]

awesome man, I would love to be able to see our sport featured on a global level.

[Kyduh]

1- "Group of red belt". I was under the impression the red belt was reserved for the original Gracie brothers.
2- I'm not sure if I WANT BJJ in the Olympics anymore. Look what it did to Judo. Furthermore, it would make more sense to me to have some kind of freestyle grappling in the olympics, both gi and no gi. I mean, we might as well let SAMBO be an Olympic sport as well. I'm also concerned with an international sport being called BJJ (as opposed to Jiu-Jitsu). Different styles of Judo are referred to by their place of origin, and it would be a real mouthful to say "European Brazillian JiuJitsu".

Really I guess what I want to happen (unlikely) is the incongruency caused by this to lead to an overhaul of the Judo scoring system so that BJJ and SAMBO are viable inclusions. Damn that would be cool to watch.

[Gringonaldo]

Gracies do not own the sport, the founder of ''BJJ'' was Medea. The Gracies as soon as they had the chance started marketing Jiu Jitsu by attaching Gracie or Brasilian to jiu-jitsu. Medea remainded in Brasil and continued to teach even after the Gracies left him. The red belts prefer the term jiu-jitsu with no country or name to identify it.
I can understand the concern of unevolving because of the olympics when you look at what happen to wrestling and judo.
If you look at Jiu Jitsu in the last 10 years there have been a ton of changes that the sport. the main org (IBJJF) profit is the number 1 goal. how much does it cost to fight 80,90 125 dollars. JJI will be strictly non-profit and no tourny will ever cost more than 50 dollars. double elimination tournys.

[Kyduh]

The Gracies as soon as they had the chance started marketing Jiu Jitsu by attaching Gracie or Brasilian to jiu-jitsu. .

I was under the impression people started calling it Brazilian to avoid referring to it as Gracie. Something about Royler trying to copyright the term.

[Gringonaldo]

either name gives credit to Gracie marketing, anyway all I am saying is JJI is going to be great for lots of things, cost, standardizing, and quality control. as well as many other things. inform everyone at your gym and talk about, see what your peers think and also pass this website to your teachers and get there feedback.

[The Don]

I like the idea and the concept.. I think it is what is needed to keep the sport from stagnating or fracturing..

[slideyfoot]

BJJ is unlikely to be an Olympic sport in the near future, or even the far future. It is impossible until after 2016, given that the two spots for new events have already been taken by golf and rugby. Not to mention that BJJ isn't even an officially recognised sport yet, in the eyes of the IOC.

As has been said elsewhere, it would make more sense to get behind FILA's grappling. That way, the potential issue of 'watering down' the sport can be avoided, because BJJ would merely be one of several styles that could provide the skills to compete: you'd also see people from judo, SAMBO, wrestling, MMA, sub wrestling etc.

I babble at length about the topic here, detailing exactly why we aren't going to be seeing BJJ in the Olympics.

[Kyduh]

I found that blog very informative and useful. I am also glad to find out about FILA.

[Gringonaldo]

JJI is the only body doing what slideyfoots blog mentions(meeting the Olympic standards) the main and most import one is Identifying the sport as a amateur sport with a non-profit organization. that is the start point.
just like they say in business "location, location, location." RIO 2016 is a good goal to get it going, also congressional involvement has already started and political lobbyist in be-half of jiu-jitsu are in action.