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World Judo Championships - Wikipedia

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World Judo Championships
Current event or competition:
2025 World Judo Championships
Competition details
DisciplineJudo
TypeAnnual
OrganiserInternational Judo Federation (IJF)
History
First edition1956 in Tokyo, Japan
Editions37 men (2024)
28 women (2024)
Most wins Japan – 417 medals
(180 gold medals)
Most recentAbu Dhabi 2024
Next editionBudapest 2025

The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international judo competition, next to the quadrennial judo events at the Summer Olympic Games. The world championships are held by the International Judo Federation annually, except the calendar years of the Summer Olympics. Qualified judoka compete in their respective categories as representatives of their home countries. Team fixtures have also been held since 1994. The men's championships first took place in 1956, though the format and periodicity of the competition have changed over time. The last edition of the World Judo Championships (2024) was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The first World Judo Champion, Shokichi Natsui in 1956

The first edition of the world championships took place in Tokyo, Japan 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 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 judoka Anton Geesink defeated the prior world champion, Koji Sone, in Paris, France, to become the first non-Japanese world champion.

The 1965 World Judo Championships were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 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 at the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo initially for men, and a permanent sport after a brief absence at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

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 in 1980, and were held in alternating years as the men's championships until the 1987 World Judo Championships in Essen, where the two competitions were merged into one world championship. The mixed championships have been held biannually since 1987. On the Commonwealth Games side, Judo was added to the Commonwealth Games programme, initially as an optional sport for the first three editions in 1990, 2002 and 2014 but it is now a core sport from 2022 onwards. The women’s judo was included at the 1992 Summer Olympics. In 2005, the world championships made its debut on the African continent in Cairo, Egypt. In the International Judo Federation 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.

There are currently 16 tournaments in the world championships, with 8 weight classes for each gender.

Men
1956–1963 1965 1967–1975 1979–1997 1999–present
Open category
(no weight limits) 		Open category
(no weight limits)
Heavyweight
+80 kg 		Heavyweight
+93 kg 		Heavyweight
+95 kg 		Heavyweight
+100 kg
Half heavyweight
-93 kg 		Half heavyweight
-95 kg 		Half heavyweight
-100 kg
Middleweight
-80 kg 		Middleweight
-80 kg 		Middleweight
-86 kg 		Middleweight
-90 kg
Half middleweight
-70 kg 		Half middleweight
-78 kg 		Half middleweight
-81 kg
Lightweight
-68 kg 		Lightweight
-63 kg 		Lightweight
-71 kg 		Lightweight
-73 kg
Half lightweight
-65 kg 		Half lightweight
-66 kg
Extra lightweight
-60 kg
Women
1980–1997 1999–present
Open category
(no weight limits)
Heavyweight
+72 kg 		Heavyweight
+78 kg
Half heavyweight
-72 kg 		Half heavyweight
-78 kg
Middleweight
-66 kg 		Middleweight
-70 kg
Half middleweight
-61 kg 		Half middleweight
-63 kg
Lightweight
-56 kg 		Lightweight
-57 kg
Half lightweight
-52 kg
Extra lightweight
-48 kg

Competitions by year

[edit]

The world championships have been held in every continent except Oceania and Antarctica.

Number Year Dates City and host country Venue # Countries # Athletes Ref.
1 1956 3 May Japan Tokyo, Japan Kuramae Kokugikan 21 31 [1][2]
2 1958 30 November Japan Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium 18 39 [3][4]
3 1961 2 December France Paris, France Stade Pierre de Coubertin 25 57 [5][6]
4 1965 14–17 October Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Maracanãzinho 42 150 [7][8]
5 1967 9–11 August United States Salt Lake City, United States University of Utah 25 115 [9][10]
6 1969 23–25 October Mexico Mexico City, Mexico Palacio de los Deportes 39 187 [11][12]
7 1971 2–4 September West Germany Ludwigshafen, West Germany Friedrich-Ebert-Halle 52 310 [13][14]
8 1973 22–24 June Switzerland Lausanne, Switzerland Palais de Beaulieu 50 288 [15][16]
9 1975 23–25 October Austria Vienna, Austria Wiener Stadthalle 46 274 [17][18]
1977 19–24 September Spain Barcelona, Spain Palau dels Esports Cancelled [a]
10 1979 6–9 December France Paris, France Stade Pierre de Coubertin 54 273 [20][21]
11 1981 3–6 September Netherlands Maastricht, Netherlands Euro Hall 51 255 [22][23]
12 1983 13–16 October Soviet Union Moscow, Soviet Union Lenin Palace of Sports 44 226 [24][25]
13 1985 26–29 September South Korea Seoul, South Korea Jamsil Arena 39 189 [26][27]

Women's competitions

[edit]

Number Year Dates City and host country Venue # Countries # Athletes Ref.
1 1980 29–30 November United States New York, United States Madison Square Garden 27 149 [28][29]
2 1982 4–5 December France Paris, France Stade Pierre de Coubertin 35 174 [30][31]
3 1984 10–11 November Austria Vienna, Austria Wiener Stadthalle 32 183 [32][33]
4 1986 24–26 October Netherlands Maastricht, Netherlands Geusselt Sports Hall 35 162 [34][35]
Number M/W Year Dates City and host country Venue # Countries # Athletes Ref.
14/5 1987 19–22 November Germany Essen, West Germany Grugahalle 63 456 [36][37]
15/6 1989 10–15 October Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Belgrade, Yugoslavia Pionir Hall 63 355 [38][39]
16/7 1991 25–28 July Spain Barcelona, Spain Palau Blaugrana 64 465 [40][41]
17/8 1993 30 September – 3 October Canada Hamilton, Canada Copps Coliseum 79 508 [42][43]
18/9 1995 28 September – 1 October Japan Chiba, Japan Makuhari Messe 100 627 [44][45]
19/10 1997 9–12 October France Paris, France Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy 91 585 [46][47]
20/11 1999 7–10 October United Kingdom Birmingham, United Kingdom National Indoor Arena 91 619 [48][49]
21/12 2001 26–29 July Germany Munich, Germany Olympiahalle 89 586 [50][51]
22/13 2003 11–14 September Japan Osaka, Japan Osaka-jō Hall 100 631 [52][53]
23/14 2005 8–11 September Egypt Cairo, Egypt Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex 93 579 [54][55]
24/15 2007 13–16 September Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil HSBC Arena 139 743 [56][57]
25/16 2009 27–30 August Netherlands Rotterdam, Netherlands Rotterdam Ahoy 197 538 [58][59]
26/17 2010 9–13 September Japan Tokyo, Japan Yoyogi National Gymnasium 112 847 [60][61]
27/18 2011 23–28 August France Paris, France Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy 131 864 [62][63]
28/19 2013 26 August – 1 September Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Maracanãzinho 123 673 [64][65]
29/20 2014 25–31 August Russia Chelyabinsk, Russia Traktor Arena 110 637 [66][67]
30/21 2015 24–30 August Kazakhstan Astana, Kazakhstan Alau Ice Palace 120 723 [68][69]
31/22 2017 28 August – 3 September Hungary Budapest, Hungary László Papp Budapest Sports Arena 126 728 [70][71]
32/23 2018 20–27 September Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan National Gymnastics Arena 124 755 [72][73]
33/24 2019 25 August – 1 September Japan Tokyo, Japan Nippon Budokan 143 828 [74][75]
34/25 2021 6–13 June Hungary Budapest, Hungary László Papp Budapest Sports Arena 118 661 [76][77][78]
35/26 2022 6–13 October Uzbekistan Tashkent, Uzbekistan Humo Ice Dome 82 571 [79][80]
36/27 2023 7–14 May Qatar Doha, Qatar Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena 99 657 [81][82]
37/28 2024 19–24 May United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Mubadala Arena 107 658 [83][84]
38/29 2025 13–20 June Hungary Budapest, Hungary [85][86]
39/30 2026 Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan [87]
40/31 2027 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan [88]
  1. ^ The 1977 Championships were canceled due to the refusal of the host country officials to allow the Taiwanese national team to compete under the national flag of the Republic of China, thereby denying them visas. Taiwan appealed the decision of the Spanish officials to the International Judo Federation, who considered the position of the Taiwanese side to be fair and decided to cancel the 1977 Championships due to an unresolved political conflict.[19]

Openweight competitions

[edit]

Number Year Dates City and host country Venue # Countries # Athletes Ref.
1 2008 20–21 December France Levallois-Perret, France Marcel Cerdan Palace of Sports 18 51 [89][90]
— 2009 Cancelled
2 2011 29–30 October Russia Tyumen, Russia Judo Centre 22 49 [91][92]
3 2017 11–12 November Morocco Marrakech, Morocco Palais des Congrès 28 58 [93][94]

Men's medal count – individual events (1956–2024)

[edit]

Women's medal count – individual events (1980–2024)

[edit]

Total medal count – individual events (1956–2024)

[edit]

World Team Judo Championships

[edit]

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.[95] 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 World Judo Championships) and every year from 2007 to 2015 (except 2009). Since 2011 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.

Year Competitions Location Men Women
Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze
1994 M – Paris, France  France  Germany  Japan
 Russia 		no women's competition
1997 – W Osaka, Japan no men's competition  Cuba  South Korea  France
 Japan
1998 M W Minsk, Belarus  Japan  Brazil  France
 Russia 		 Cuba  France  Belgium
 China
2002 M W Basel, Switzerland  Japan  Georgia  France
 Italy 		 Japan  Cuba  China
 Italy
2003 M W Osaka, Japan  France  Japan  Iran
 Russia 		 Japan  China  Cuba
 France
2005 M W Cairo, Egypt  South Korea  Japan  Brazil
 Georgia 		 France  South Korea  Algeria
 Japan
2006 M W Paris, France  Georgia  Russia  France
 South Korea 		 France  Cuba  China
 Japan
2007 M W Beijing, China  Japan  Brazil  China
 South Korea 		 China  Cuba  Japan
 Mongolia
2008 M W Tokyo, Japan  Georgia  Uzbekistan  Brazil
 Russia 		 Japan  France  China
 Germany
2010 M W Antalya, Turkey  Japan  Brazil  Russia
 South Korea 		 Netherlands  Germany  Japan
 Turkey
2011 M W Paris, France  France  Brazil  Japan
 South Korea 		 France  Japan  Cuba
 Germany
2012 M W Salvador, Brazil  Russia  Japan  Brazil
 Georgia 		 Japan  China  Brazil
 Cuba
2013 M W Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  Georgia  Russia  Germany
 Japan 		 Japan  Brazil  Cuba
 France
2014 M W Chelyabinsk, Russia  Japan  Russia  Georgia
 Germany 		 France  Mongolia  Germany
 Japan
2015 M W Astana, Kazakhstan  Japan  South Korea  Georgia
 Mongolia 		 Japan  Poland  Germany
 Russia

World Team Judo Championships — Mixed team

[edit]

The results of promotional team events which were held during 2003 and 2005 World Judo Championships are not included into overall statistics.

All-time medal count

[edit]

List of World Judo Championships medalists

Updated after the 2024 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.

Multiple gold medalists

[edit]

Boldface denotes active judokas and highest medal count among all judokas (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

# 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

# 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 and one won as reserve
**## including two medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and two won as reserve
****# including four medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and one won as reserve

Category Men Women
Youngest world champion
Oldest world champion
  1. ^ a b c d At the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, in accordance with sanctions imposed following by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, judokas from Russia were not permitted to use the name, flag, or anthem of Russia. They instead participated as "Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)", their medals were not included in the official medal table.
  2. ^ a b c At the 2021 World Championships, in accordance with a ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), judokas from Russia 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.
  3. ^ a b c Unlike in 2013, Majlinda Kelmendi did not compete at the 2014 World Championships under the Kosovo flag but under the International Judo Federation flag, as Russia does not recognise Kosovo's independence.
  4. ^ a b c At the 2018 World Championships, judokas from North Korea and South Korea completed for unified Korean team and won bronze medals in the Mixed team competition.
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