The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, 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 Nipponi ...
competition, along with the
Olympic judo competition. The championships are held once every year (except the years when the Olympics take place) by the
International Judo Federation
The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...
, and qualified judoka compete in their respective categories as representatives of their home countries. Team competitions have also been held since 1994. The men's championships
began in 1956, though the format and periodicity of the championships have changed over time.
The last edition
''The Last Edition'' is a 1925 American silent film, silent drama film directed by Emory Johnson based on the story by Emilie Johnson. The photoplay is set in San Francisco, California, and stars Ralph Lewis (actor), Ralph Lewis as a Printing pr ...
of the championships took place in
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
,
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
in 2022.
History
![Shokichi Natsui](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Shokichi_Natsui.jpg)
The first edition of the world championships took place in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in 1956. There were no weight classes at the time and Japanese judoka
Shokichi Natsui became the first world champion in history, defeating fellow countryman
Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu
was a Japanese judoka. Born in Kagoshima, Japan, he received a silver medal at the 1956 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, behind winner Shokichi Natsui
was a Japanese judoka from the Akita Prefecture. He became the first world cham ...
in the final. The second world championship was also held in Tokyo two years later, with the Japanese winning the top two spots in the competition for the second time. In 1961, the championship was held outside Japan for the first time, and
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
judoka
Anton Geesink
Antonius Johannes Geesink (6 April 1934 – 27 August 2010) was a Dutch people, Dutch List of judoka#Highest grades, 10th dan judoka. He was the first non-Japanese judoka to win gold at the World Judo Championship, a feat he accomplished in 1961 ...
defeated the prior world champion,
Koji Sone
was a Japanese judoka and world champion.
He was born in the city Chichibu, Saitama and started judo in his childhood. His father was a 6th Dan in judo and his uncle a 9th Dan. Sone is a university-trained judoka from Meiji University. Af ...
, in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
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 ...
, to become the first non-Japanese world champion.
The
1965 World Judo Championships were held in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, and weight classes were implemented for the first time with the addition of the −68 kg, −80 kg, and +80 kg categories. Judo had become an
Olympic sport
Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing b ...
at the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...
held in Tokyo, and a permanent sport after a brief absence at the
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
.
Despite this progressive enlargement, it took until 1980 for women to participate in the world championships. The first women's world championships were held in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1980, and were held in alternating years as the men's championships until the
1987 World Judo Championships in
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
, where the two competitions were merged into one world championship. The mixed championships have been held biannually since 1987. In 2005, the world championships made its debut on the
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n continent in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. In the
International Judo Federation
The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...
meeting held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007 (during the
2007 World Judo Championships), it was decided that France would host the world championships for the fifth time in 2011.
Weight classes
There are currently 16 tournaments in the world championships, with 8 weight classes for each gender.
Competitions by year
The world championships have been held in every continent except Oceania and Antarctica.
Men's competitions
Women's competitions
Mixed competitions
Openweight competitions
Medal tables
Men's medal count – individual events (1956–2022)
Women's medal count – individual events (1980–2022)
Total medal count – individual events (1956–2022)
World Team Judo Championships
The first World Team Judo Championships was held in 1994 as separate event and only for men's national teams. The first World Team Judo Championships for women's national team was held as separate event in 1997.
Since 1998, World Team Judo Championships for men's and women's national teams have been held at the same time and venue. It were held every four years until 2006 (although promotional team events were held during
2003 and
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
World Judo Championships) and every year from 2007 to 2015 (except 2009). Since
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
men's and women's team competitions became the part of World Judo Championships. Starting from 2017, it were merged into mixed team competition. Judokas who participates in the individual events at the World Championships often do not participate in the team competition.
World Team Judo Championships — Mixed team
Medal tables
The results of promotional team events which were held during
2003 and
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
World Judo Championships are not included into overall statistics.
Men's medal count – team events (1994–2015)
Total medal count – team events (1994–2022)
Women's medal count – team events (1997–2015)
Mixed medal count – team events (2017–2022)
All-time medal count
''
List of World Judo Championships medalists''
Updated after the
2022 World Judo Championships.
''This table include all medals in the individual and team competitions won at the World Judo Championships as well as at the separate World Team Judo Championships and separate World Judo Open Championships.''
:a Unlike in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
,
Majlinda Kelmendi
Majlinda Kelmendi (; born 9 May 1991) is a Kosovan-Albanian former judoka and judo coach.
In 2014, Majlinda topped the IJF Women's Prestige World Ranking List. On 7 August 2016, she became the first Kosovan athlete to win a medal at the Olymp ...
did not compete at the
2014 World Judo Championships under the Kosovo flag but under the International Judo Federation flag, as Russia does not recognise Kosovo's independence.
:b At the
2018 World Championships, judokas from
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
completed for
unified Korean team and won bronze medals in the Mixed team competition.
:c At the
2021 World Championships
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
, in accordance with a ban by the
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...
(WADA) and a decision by the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...
(CAS), judokas from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
were not permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem. They instead participated as "the team of the Russian Judo Federation (RJF)", and used the flag of the
Russian Olympic Committee
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC; russian: Олимпийский комитет России (ОКР), Olimpiyskiy komitet Rossii (OKR); Full name: All-Russian united social union "Olympic Committee of Russia", russian: Общероссий ...
.
Multiple gold medalists
Boldface denotes active judokas and highest medal count among all judokas (including these who not included in these tables) per type.
Men
Individual events
All events
# including one medal of the World Team Championships won as reserve
* including one medal of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only
** including two medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only
*## including one medal of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and two won as reserve
*** including three medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only
Women
Individual events
All events
# including one medal of the World Team Championships won as reserve
* including one medal of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only
*# including one medal of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and one won as reserve
**# including two medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and one won as reserve
Records
Video footage
World Championship 2013 in Rio de JaneiroWorld Championships 2012in
SalvadorWorld Championships 2011in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
World Championships 2010in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
World Championships 2009in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
World Championships 2007in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
World Championships 2005in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
World Championships 2003in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
World Championships 2001in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
World Championships 1999in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
World Championships 1997in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
World Championships 1995in
Chiba
Chiba may refer to:
Places China
* (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei
Japan
* Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture
** Chiba Station, a train station
* Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...
World Championships 1993in
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
World Championships 1991in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
World Championships 1989in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
World Championships 1987in
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
World Championships 1985in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
World Championships 1983in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
World Championships 1981in
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
World Championships 1980in
New YorkWorld Championships 1979in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
World Championships 1961in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
World Championships 1956in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
References
External links
Judo UnionEuropean Judo UnionJudoinsideJudobase
{{Main world championships
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
Judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, 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 Nipponi ...
Recurring sporting events established in 1956