4 rocznica smierci Andy Huga

Dear Fans of Andy

24 th August 2000! Andy and I had actually been looking forward for a long time to 2000, the Year of the Dragon, because we were both born under the Chinese star-sign of the Dragon (1964), so according to the horoscope we were going to experience some extraordinary things in 2000. At the time, however, we obviously had never even begun to imagine that this would be Andy's death.

Andy died on August 24, 2000 in a hospital bed in Japan. Acute leukaemia had been diagnosed, according to the information from the Japanese doctors. For Seya and me, that was the day on which the whole world collapsed.

It seems to me just as if it were yesterday that I was sitting at Andy's bedside, holding his hand, when he went to sleep for ever. I lived through the following days as if in a trance, washing his body, preparing for his funeral, all the enormous media hurly-burly, and the day-long ceremonies. How on Earth could all that happen? It was the Year of the Dragon and we thought it would bring us happiness.

We had kept talking about what would happen. We had so many great plans! Andy was preparing himself for a life without fights. He was taking acting lessons, wanted to make movies, build schools, have his cups exhibited in a museum, and so many other things as well. We were never short of ideas - it was only time we kept being short of.

A book about his life was likewise one of the projects that Andy had long been wanting to carry out. A few months before his death I asked Erik Golowin, a friend of our family for many years and a martial arts expert, whether he would like to turn Andy's biography and my thoughts about it into a book.

Although we did not have a book publishing company at the time we worked wildly for innumerable hours. It took two whole years until our great work was finished, and only three months before the book was ready we had a publisher to publish it. This book had become so important to us that we had never thought about finding a publisher as quickly as possible. For Erik and me it was a very interesting experience. It took innumerable hours, during which I narrated, wept, laughed, and went through the whole gamut of emotions to create the work: "Andy Hug and the Wisdom of the Martial Arts".

Although no-one would have expected it, this book became a bestseller, which was of course a great source of happiness to us, particularly because this work helped me to find a way of talking about the past.

That was two years ago, and it is incomprehensible how fast the time has gone by.

Seya has now grown enormously. He will already be 10 in November. He loves sport and is very active indeed. He is also a great game fan and never misses a trick. All the same, the wounds have still not yet healed. I believe that a small part of us died too on that August 24 day. However, life must go on and Andy was always so full of positive energy and I am quite sure that it is still having an effect on us, if in a different form.

I have been devoting myself more and more in recent years to my art and design. I have also made a new friend in Maurizio, who has taught me to gain pleasure from life and has given me new strength. Seya likes him very much, too, and I am of course very glad about that.

I was approached more than a year ago by the municipality of Wohlen, where Andy grew up, to see whether I would like to erect a memorial for Andy. I felt very honoured, and started to dedicate myself fully to this project, and the memorial is now to be dedicated on September 7 - it would have been Andy's 40 th birthday. I wanted people to think about that date, not about the date of his death. I have tried to reflect some of the messages from Andy's life in this memorial, and am quite sure that Andy would have gained great pleasure from it.

I would like to thank all you dear fans and friends of Andy for the way you let him continue to live in your thoughts. I will do everything I can to enable him to stay alive in worthy remembrance.

Ilona Hug

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COUNTRY : Switzerland
DATE OF BIRTH : September 7, 1964
HEIGHT : 180cm (5 ft 11 in)
WEIGHT : 98.0 kg (216 lbs)

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Andy Hug's record:
4th World Tournament 1987 - 2nd (Lost to Matsui)
5th World Tournament 1991 - Last 32 (Lost to Filho)
3rd World Tournament 1984 - Last 16 (Lost to Matsui)
3rd European Championships 1985 - 1st
4th European Championships 1987 - 3rd
5th European Championships 1989 - 1st
6th European Championships 1991 - 2nd
1st Ibutz Oyama Cup 1983 - 1st*
2nd Ibutz Oyama Cup 1985 - 1st
Sursee Cup 1988 - 1st
*= as Middleweight

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Andy Hug's record (non Kyokushin):
K-1 World Grand Prix Champion - 1996
K-1 World Grand Prix Finalist - 1997, 1998
K-1 World Grand Prix Last 8 - 1994, 1999
UKF World Super Heavyweight Champion
WMTC World Super Heavyweight Champion
WKA World Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Champion
WKA European Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Champion
Karate World Cup Champion - 1992
Karate World Cup Finalist - 1993