Summer Olympic Sports >>Judo

ABOUT

Judo means "the gentle way" in Japanese.  Of course, it is derived in part from jujitsu, the hand-to-hand combat technique of ancient samurai warriors, and everything is relative.  While throwing opponents to the floor wins most matches, it is the only Olympic sport where submission holds allow choking an opponent or breaking an arm.

Developed by Dr Jigoro Kano in the 1880s, the sport broke into the Olympic Games in 1964 at Tokyo.  The host country could add one sport, and Japan chose judo.  Four weight classes were established, and Japanese entries promptly won three.

However, in the fourth, the open class, a 1.98-metre Dutchman named Anton Geesink defeated three-time Japanese national champion Kaminaga Akio before 15,000 people at Nippon Budokan Hall.  And then he beat him again.  It followed victories earlier in the year over other top Japanese opponents, deeply bruising the theory that a skilled judoka could defeat any opponent of any size.

COMPETITION

Women's judo was added to the Olympic program in 1992.  Men and women now compete in seven weight classes each, and 400 judoka competed at the Sydney 2000 Games.  Men's contests last five minutes.  Women's contests last four.

Judoka compete in a single-elimination tournament after being divided into two pools by a draw.  An unusual twist is that two bronze medals are awarded.  To determine them, all judoka who lose to one of the two pools' semi-finalists fall into a further single-elimination bracket within the same groups.  The winner in each of those groups faces the runner-up of the opposite group in the matches for bronze.

LIST OF EVENTS

• + 100kg (heavyweight) Men

• - 60 kg Men

• 60 - 66kg (half-lightweight) Men

• 66 - 73kg (lightweight) Men

• 73 - 81kg (half-middleweight) Men

• 81 - 90kg (middleweight) Men

• 90 - 100kg (half-heavyweight) Men

• + 78kg (heavyweight) Women

• - 48kg (extra-lightweight) Women

• 48 - 52kg (half-lightweight) Women

• 52 - 57kg (lightweight) Women

• 57 - 63kg (half-middleweight) Women

• 63 - 70kg (middleweight) Women

• 70 - 78kg (half-heavyweight) Women