The IJF world tour consists of the elite level tournaments in cities around the world. This brief post shares some rough calculations on the size of the tour in terms of distance traveled.
Summary
IJF World Tour Distances (from/to London)
- 3,181 km Grand Prix Portugal 2022
- 684 km Paris Grand Slam 2022
- 7,113 km Tel Aviv Grand Slam 2022
- 7,078 km Tbilisi Grand Slam 2022
- 5,823 km Antalya Grand Slam 2022
- 6,422 km Kazan Grand Slam 2022
- 960 km Dusseldorf Grand Slam 2022
- 13,945 km Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam 2022
- 2,898 km Budapest Grand Slam 2022
- 2,675 km Zagreb Grand Prix 2022
- 10,468 km Tashkent World Senior Championships 2022
- 10,950 km Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2022
- 8,029 km Baku Grand Slam 2022
- 19,125 km Tokyo Grand Slam 2022
Total distance: 99,351 km
Methodology
Taking the IJF calendar, a city is chosen and a latitude and longitude determined (center of the city) using an interface to the OpenStreetMap projects GeoCoding API.
Using the city of London as the start point, a calculation distance to and from the destination city using a library (GIS::Distance) using the “Haversine” formula.
These are totaled and present as above.
Carbon calculation
Knowing the distance covered, we are able to make a very naive calculation as to how much co2 is generated. This was done using a basic 259 g/km pessimistic co2 per km per flight (https://en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org).
Using this it was possible to estimate a total of 25,731 kg Co2 for one athlete competing from London in the UK.
Discussion
This exercise of calculating the total distance the tour is an interesting aside. The carbon calculation is a very rough calculation but does set a simple baseline should people want to use it.
An interesting point to note was that competing from central Europe (for example IJF headquarters city Budapest) significantly decreased the total distance. Other nations such as New Zealand for example the distance is considerably larger.
We already know anecdotally that athletes from countries like New Zealand base themselves in Europe to minimize costs.
The calculation is based on round trips to and from London. Athletes already group events (the “asia tour” and “south america tour” have been unofficial features of international Judo for a long time.
A interesting exercise might be to calculate total distance on various permutations of the tour as a point to point tour? This would conceivably decrease the distance (and carbon cost). It might also be an interesting logistical change and opportunity for the Judo community.
Alternative transportation methods would be interesting also. Along with perhaps a time based calculation. Using a route planning algorithm to API might be able to provide a more detailed calculation of distances from a home location, to airport, to venue, etc. Potentially incorporating train, boat and bus transportation methods.
I hope this was an interesting read, I would be interested in your thoughts and opinions. If anyone is interested in taking this exercise a further, please do drop me an email (lw@judocoach.com)