Documented path
Born in Wohlen, Switzerland; given up for adoption and raised by grandparents after time in an orphanage. Started Kyokushin karate at age 10 under Werner Schenker. Won the Swiss Oyama Cup at 15 with special age exemption, joined the Swiss national team at 17, and won the Swiss Championships at 18. Competed in his first Kyokushin World Open in 1984 at age 20.
Born in Wohlen, Switzerland; father died before meeting him, mother unable to cope, placed in orphanage then raised by grandparents from age 3.
Died on August 24, 2000 at age 35 in Tokyo from acute promyelocytic leukemia; final role: K-1 Grand Prix champion and martial arts superstar in Japan.
Where the conditions came from
Each is placed on a −1 to 3 scale from documented evidence, and the three are never added together. A combined total would rank Andy Hug against other people. Held apart, they explain why this path ran differently from another one—which is the only comparison this project supports.
The marble itself
+2Tailwind
What capability, drive, or early skill is documented in the person rather than their surroundings?
Won the Swiss Oyama Cup at 15 with a special age exemption and became European champion at 21. His rapid rise in Kyokushin from starting at 10 to international success by 20 demonstrates significant natural fighting talent and physical endowment.
Where it was dropped
-1Active headwind
What money, family standing, network, or permission was already in place before the work began?
Given up for adoption; father died before seeing him, mother unable to care for him. Placed in an orphanage then raised by grandparents from age 3 in Wohlen, Switzerland. Financially constrained upbringing with active disadvantage from orphaning and parental abandonment.
The shape of the track
+1Tailwind
What place, timing, institution, or peer group made the next step available?
Started Kyokushin karate at 10 under Werner Schenker and joined the Swiss national team at 17. The Swiss Kyokushin scene provided a functional training environment, but Switzerland was not a global karate center. The ecosystem was adequate but not elite or uniquely resourced.
A −1 is a documented headwind, not a missing value; a 0 means the sources record nothing notable either way. Annotation confidence: Medium. These are analyst readings of what the sources record, not measurements of merit, talent, or effort. The twenty-two scored dimensions remain available inside the deeper research detail.
What moved through the conditions
This records repeated behaviour or recovery described by sources; it is not a grit or merit score.
A successful-only archive cannot recover all encounters, avoided setbacks, or alternative outcomes.
Strongest documented signals: Prodigy / innate ability, Adversity / constraint catalyst, Elite institution pipeline.
Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.
Strongest observed levers: Started serious reps before 20, Prior reps, Scarce skill depth.
Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
The timeline below shows the sequence of work and transitions around the selected early milestone. It is evidence of a path, not proof that every step was necessary.
Dominant figure at the top of a field. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Andy Hug's worth or future potential.
Question four · where did the leverage come from?
Each non-zero lever gets a best-supported origin, evidence signals, and confidence. Unresolved is the honest default when the biography cannot distinguish self-built, advantage-enabled, earned, external, or mixed.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
A structural wave is external to the person, even when their position improved access to it.
This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Andy Hug's outcome attributable to any origin.
Structural luck, Encounter luck, Event luck, Outcome variance can change every arrow in the path. This successful-only dataset cannot observe the near-identical paths that did not break through, so luck stays visible and unscored.
Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."
Born in Wohlen, Switzerland; father died before seeing him, mother unable to care for him, placed in orphanage then raised by grandparents from age 3.
No family connection to martial arts; grandparents initially opposed karate training but grandmother eventually convinced grandfather to relent.
Hug was given up for adoption and raised by his grandparents in Wohlen, Switzerland. He started Kyokushin karate at 10 to defend against bullying and showed exceptional talent, winning the Swiss Oyama Cup at 15 with a special age exemption. By 21, he won the European Championships and later became the first non-Japanese World Open finalist at 23. His early adversity—orphaned, bullied, financially constrained—catalyzed his intense dedication to karate.
advantage confidence: High · source count: 5 · audit: partial_source_verification · status: subagent_researched_beta