World Judo Championships

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The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international judo competition, along with the Olympic judo competition. The championships are held once every two years by the International Judo Federation, 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 overtime. The 26th edition of the championships will take place in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2009.

[edit] History

The first World Judo Champion, Shokichi Natsui (夏井昇吉^?) 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 of 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, 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 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. 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.

[edit] Weight classes

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

Men
1956-1963	1965	1967-1975	1979-1997	1999-2009
Open category (no weight limits)	Open category (no weight limits)
	Heavyweight +80 kg	Heavyweight +93 kg	Heavyweight +95 kg	Heavyweight +100 kg
	Heavyweight +80 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
	Middleweight -80 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	1999-2009
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

[edit] Competitions

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

[edit] Men's competitions

Year	Edition	City and host country	Medal leader
1956	1st World Judo Championships	Tokyo, Japan	Japan
1958	2nd World Judo Championships	Tokyo, Japan	Japan
1961	3rd World Judo Championships	Paris, France	Netherlands
1965	4th World Judo Championships	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Japan
1967	5th World Judo Championships	Salt Lake City, United States	Japan
1969	6th World Judo Championships	Mexico City, Mexico	Japan
1971	7th World Judo Championships	Ludwigshafen, West Germany	Japan
1973	8th World Judo Championships	Lausanne, Switzerland	Japan
1975	9th World Judo Championships	Vienna, Austria	Japan
1977	Cancelled
1979	11th World Judo Championships	Paris, France	Japan
1981	12th World Judo Championships	Maastricht, Netherlands	Japan
1983	13th World Judo Championships	Moscow, Soviet Union	Japan
1985	14th World Judo Championships	Seoul, South Korea	Japan

[edit] Women's competitions

Year	Edition	City and host country	Medal leader
1980	1st Women's World Judo Championships	New York, United States	Austria
1982	2nd Women's World Judo Championships	Paris, France	France
1984	3rd Women's World Judo Championships	Vienna, Austria	Belgium
1986	4th Women's World Judo Championships	Maastricht, Netherlands	United Kingdom

[edit] Mixed competitions

Year	Edition	City and host country	Medal leader
1987	15th World Judo Championships	Essen, Germany	Japan
1989	16th World Judo Championships	Belgrade, Yugoslavia	Japan
1991	17th World Judo Championships	Barcelona, Spain	Japan
1993	18th World Judo Championships	Hamilton, Canada	Japan
1995	19th World Judo Championships	Chiba, Japan	Japan
1997	20th World Judo Championships	Paris, France	Japan
1999	21st World Judo Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	Japan
2001	22nd World Judo Championships	Munich, Germany	Japan
2003	23rd World Judo Championships	Osaka, Japan	Japan
2005	24th World Judo Championships	Cairo, Egypt	Japan
2007	25th World Judo Championships	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Japan
2009	26th World Judo Championships	Rotterdam, Netherlands
2011	27th World Judo Championships	Paris, France

[edit] Records

Category	Men	Women
Most world titles	4 titles: Naoya Ogawa : (3 in the Open category, 1 at +95 kg) Shozo Fujii : (3 at -80 kg, 1 at -78 kg) Yasuhiro Yamashita : (3 at +95 kg, 1 in the Open category) David Douillet : (3 at +95 kg, 1 in the Open category)	Ryoko Tamura : 7 titles (all at -48 kg) Ingrid Berghmans : 6 titles (4 in the Open category, 2 at +72 kg) Fenglian Gao : 4 titles (3 at +72 kg, 1 in the Open category) Karen Briggs : 4 titles (all at -48 kg) Noriko Anno : 4 titles (1 at -72 kg, 3 at +78 kg)
Most medals	7 medals: Naoya Ogawa : (4 gold, 3 bronze) Robert van de Walle : (2 silver, 5 bronze)	Ingrid Berghmans : 11 medals (6 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze) Ryoko Tamura : 8 medals (7 gold, 1 bronze) Driulis González : 7 medals (3 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze)
Youngest world champion	Teddy Riner : 18 years and 5 months (in 2007)	Ryoko Tamura : 18 years and 1 month (in 1993)

[edit] Team competition

The World Judo Championships team competition began in 1994, and was held once every four years until 2006. The competition will be held every year from 2007. Judoka who participate in the individual world championships often do not participate in the team competition.

Year	Location	Men			Women
Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1994	Paris, France	France	United Kingdom	Japan Russia	no women's competition
1998	Minsk, Belarus	Japan	Brazil	Russia France	Cuba	France	Belgium China
2002	Basel, Switzerland	Japan	Georgia	France	Japan	Cuba	Italy
2006	Paris, France	Georgia	Russia	France	France	Cuba	Japan
2007	Beijing, China	Japan	Brazil	China South Korea	China	Cuba	Russia Mongolia