Judo at the Olympic Games 2012, London

Judo Olympic Games 2012, The 2011 season is almost over (it will be the case after the World Judo Masters to be held in Almaty next January) and 2012 will be the so awaited Olympic year. Please find below the Olympic qualification process that will be used to determine who will go to London 2012. Judo was first included in the Summer Olympic Games at the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Since 1964, judo has been an Olympic sport in each Olympiad except the Mexico Games of 1968. In the beginning, only male judoka participated at the Summer Olympics. Women judoka were first awarded medals at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games.

At the London Olympic Games 2012, there are 14 judo medal sets available, involving seven weight categories for both, men and women. Hereby, the Olympic Games 2012 will provide 14 events and will be awarded 14 Gold medals, 14 Silver medals and 28 Bronze medals.

MEN’S EVENTS (7): 

Up to 60kg

+60kg up to 66kg

+66kg up to 73kg

+73kg up to 81kg

+81kg up to 90kg

+90kg up to 100kg

+ 100kg

WOMEN’S EVENTS (7)

Up to 48kg

+48kg up to 52kg

+52 kg up to 57kg

+57 kg up to 63kg

+63 kg up to 70kg

+70 kg up to 78kg

+ 78kg

The qualification is determined almost entirely by the International Judo Federation’s (IJF) world ranking list as of May 1st, 2012. Each nation can qualify one athlete per event. For each man’s event, the top 22 athletes in the rankings (abiding by the “one-per-country” rule) all directly qualify for the Olympics. For the women judoka, that number is 14 athletes.

After this first phase of qualifying, the ranking list is again used to qualify the next-best athletes on a continental basis: 25 athletes from Europe, 24 from Africa, 21 of the Pan-America, 20 from Asia and 10 from Oceania. The IJF World Ranking List as of 1st May 2012 will be used to allocate the 352 places.

In addition, IJF will provide 20 wild-cards that will be announced between May and July 2012. Total will be present 214 judoka men, 138 judoka women, 20 tripartite places and 14 judokas from the host country.

The allocation for each union is given according to the number of IJF affiliated member national federations by the following quota:

Continent Countries M W Total Places

Africa 47 14 10 24, Europe 50 14 11 25, Asia 38 12 8 20, Oceania 17 7 3 10, Pan America 42 13 8 21, Total 100

By 10th May 2012 the IJF will confirm to the NOCs the names of qualified athletes. By 31st May 2012 NOCs must confirm to the IJF the use of quota places allocated to their athlete(s). By 10th June 2012 the IJF will confirm the reallocation of unused quota places.

All athletes must comply with the provisions of the Olympic Charter currently in force and only those athletes who have complied with the Olympic Charter may participate in the Olympic Games.

In addition, athletes must:

– be registered members of their IJF affiliated National Federation.

– be minimum 1st. Dan and minimum of 15 years age in 2012 (according to the IJF Regulations by the year of birth, born 1997 and earlier).

– have participated in at least one World or Continental Senior Championships, or in two IJF Qualification events during the two year qualification period.

To date the following Olympic medals for judo have been awarded – 109 Gold medals, 108 Silver medals and 218 Bronze medals making a total of 434 medals.

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total

1 JAPAN 35 15 15 65

2 FRANCE 10 8 19 37

3 SOUTH KOREA 9 14 14 37

4 CHINA 8 2 8 18

5 RUSSIA (including USSR teams) 7 8 20 35

6 CUBA 5 11 16 32

7 GERMANY (including all German teams) 5 6 19 30

8 NETHERLANDS 4 2 14 20

9 POLAND 3 3 2 8

10 ITALY 3 3 6 12

11 SPAIN 3 1 2 6

12 BRAZIL 2 3 10 15

13 AUSTRIA 2 2 1 5

14 BELGIUM 2 1 7 10

15 GEORGIA 2 1 2 5

16 HUNGARY 1 2 4 7

16 NORTH KOREA 1 2 4 7

18 MONGOLIA 1 1 3 5

19 SWITZERLAND 1 1 2 4

20 ROMANIA 1 0 3 4

21 AZERBAIJAN 1 0 1 2

21 BELARUS 1 0 1 2

21 TURKEY 1 0 1 2

24 GREECE 1 0 0 1

25 GREAT BRITAIN 0 7 9 16

26 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 0 3 7 10

27 CANADA 0 2 2 4

28 UZBEKISTAN 0 2 1 3

29 BULGARIA 0 1 2 3

29 ISRAEL 0 1 2 3

29 UKRAINE 0 1 2 3

32 ALGERIA 0 1 1 2

32 EGYPT 0 1 1 2

34 KAZAKHSTAN 0 1 0 1

34 SLOVAKIA 0 1 0 1

36 ESTONIA 0 0 3 3

37 AUSTRALIA 0 0 2 2

37 SLOVENIA 0 0 2 2

37 SERBIA (including Yugoslav team) 0 0 2 2

40 ARGENTINA 0 0 1 1

40 CZECH REPUBLIC

(Including Czechoslovak team) 0 0 1 1

40 ICELAND 0 0 1 1

40 KYRGYSTAN 0 0 1 1

40 LATVIA 0 0 1 1

40 PORTUGAL 0 0 1 1

40 TAJIKISTAN 0 0 1 1