Judo —Olympics: Judo is a martial art and a combat sport. Judo is also a philosophy originated in Japan. This sport founded by Dr. Jigoro Kano in 1882 is the successor to jujutsu. Practitioners of judo are called judoka. Judo is one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally. The three other wrestling forms are Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling and sambo wrestling.
Judo in the Summer Games: Judo was introduced to the Olympics ' schedule in the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan . The sport was excluded from the 1968 Games . Since 1972 , judo has been a regular event in the Summer Olympics' schedule. Only men were allowed to participate in the Olympic judo competition till 1988 Summer Games . Women's judo was included as a demonstration sport in the 1988 Summer Games . Women were first awarded in the event in 1992 Summer Games . currently, men and women participate in seven weight classes . Men's combat lasts for five minutes . On the other hand, the duration of women's combat is four minutes . Judo competition is held in a single elimination round after the competitors are divided into two pools by a draw . The categories in men's judo competition are heavyweight, half-heavyweight, middleweight, half-middleweight, lightweight, half-lightweight and extra-lightweight . Women's judo competition includes the categories—heavyweight, half-heavyweight, middleweight, half-middleweight, lightweight, half-lightweight and extra-lightweight.
Judo at the 2008 Summer Games: At the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing , the judo finals will be held from 9 th August to 15 th August . The judo combats are going to be held at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium, Beijing Science and Technology University located in the Haidian District . Total 14 gold medals will be given away in the Olympic judo competition .
Nestor Khergiani, Khashbaatar Tsagaanbaatar, Tadashiro Nomura, Choi Min Ho, Masato Uchishiba, Yordanis Arencibia Verdecia, Jozef Krnac, Lee Won Hee, Vitaly Makarov, Leonardo Guilheiro, James Pedro, Craig Fallon, Ilias Iliadis, Ludwig Paischer, Nijat Shikhalizada, Nam Suk Cho, Arash Miresmaili, Joao Derly, Miklos Ungvari, Akos Braun, Roman Gontyuk, Flavio Canto, Dmitry Nosov, Zurab Zviadauri, Keiji Suzuki, Tamerian Tmenov and Dennis van der Geest are the expected men contenders in the Beijing Summer Games .
Ryoko Tani, Frederique Jossinet, Julia Matijass, Gao Feng, Yuki Yokosawa, Xian Dongmei, Ilse Heylen, Yurisleidy Lupetey, Yvonne Bonisch, Kye Sun Haui, Deborah Gravenstijn, Ayumi Tanimoto, Claudia Heill, Edith Bosch, Masae Ueno, Qin Dongya, Annett Bohm, Noriko Anno, Xia Liu, Yurisel Laborde Duanes, Maki Tsukada and Sun Fuming are the expected women judoka to compete in the twenty-ninth Summer Games in 2008.
