| Today it is hard for us to think about the Olympic Games without Judo, but this martial art in white wasn't always a part of the Games. It was introduced in the 1964 Games in Tokyo, and only since 1972 did it start to be an integral part of the Summer Games. Like many of the categories in the Olympics, Judo was first a men-only club. The first woman received a medal in judo only in 1992, in Barcelona. |
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Judo, "the Gentle Way", is a competitive sport that was created as a moral, mental and physical pedagogy in Japan, by the Japanese educator, Kanō Jigorō, in 1882. Today, more than a hundred years later, it is one of the dominating sports in the Olympic Games, with Judokas from all over the world, who compete in seven weight classes for men and women. Each country can send one Judoka per weight class. Not surprisingly, most of the Judo Champions come from Japan, who won 70 Judo medals over the years, more than thirty of them Gold Medals. However, slowly after them comes France, with 44 medals, alone at the top where all the other first rankers come from the far east - South Korea third with 40 medals, and China forth with 20 medals.
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While in other Olympic Sports we can see the same names again and again each time, Judo is somewhat different. In each category, the winners change every tournament and almost do not repeat. With the exception of some, like Tadahiro Nomura, Israel Hernandez, Jae-Bum Kim, Ryoko Tamura, Kum-Ae An, and Yoko Tanabe, most of the Judo champions in the Summer Olympics have won only once. Each time - new champions, which makes Judo one of the most interesting sport events in the Summer Olympics.
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