is a Japanese

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

. She won the gold medal in the half lightweight event, and silver medal in mixed team, at the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

held in Tokyo, Japan.

Personal life

Uta Abe is the sister of current 66 kg standout judoka, and four-times world champion,

Hifumi Abe is a Japanese judoka. Abe rose to prominence after becoming Youth Olympic champion in 2014. He won the Tokyo Grand Slam later that year, at just 17-years-old, beating then-World Champion Masashi Ebinuma. He was the silver medalist at the juni ...

Judo career

Abe became the youngest ever Judoka to win an IJF (International Judo Federation) Grand Prix, when she captured first place at the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Grand Prix in February 2017. She participated at the

2018 World Judo Championships The 2018 World Judo Championships was held between 20 and 27 September 2018 at National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan. Schedule ''All times are local (Time in Azerbaijan, UTC+4).'' Medal summary Medal Table Men's events Women's e ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and won her first world title at 18 years of age, making her the third-youngest Judoka to ever capture a senior World title. Abe firstly defeated Polish judoka, Karolina Pienkowska and Fabienne Kocher of Switzerland. She then defeated Jessica Pereira of Brazil and in the semi-finals she defeated

Amandine Buchard Amandine Buchard (born 12 July 1995) is a French judoka. She represented France at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal in the half lightweight event, and a gold medal in the mixed team event. Career She won a bronze medal at t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in under 40 seconds, by armlock to make her way into the finals. In the finals, Abe was matched with teammate and former-world champion Ai Shishime, and defeated Shishime with a spectacular uchi-mata in golden score for ippon. In 2021, Abe won the gold medal at the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

on the same day that her older brother Hifumi won the gold medal in his judo division. Abe won the gold medal in the women's 52kg event at the 2023 World Judo Championships held in Doha, Qatar. She defeated Diyora Keldiyorova of Uzbekistan in her gold medal match.

Family

She is the younger sister of fellow Olympic Gold medallist in Judo,

. Three-times Olympic champion

Tadahiro Nomura is one of the most famous judo competitors in Japan. He is the only judoka in the world who has won three individual Olympic gold medals in a row, all in the extra lightweight (-60 kg) division. Biography Nomura was born into a family of ...

is her uncle.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abe, Uta 2000 births Living people Japanese female judoka World judo champions Sportspeople from Kobe Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic silver medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for Japan Olympic medalists in judo 21st-century Japanese women 21st-century Japanese people