Judo at Paris Olympics 2024: What to know, who to watch

MANILA, Philippines–For the second straight edition of the Olympics, the Philippines will have a competitor in the judo tournament.

In the Paris Olympics 2024, Kiyomi Watanabe will once again be the lone judoka. She will be surrounded with familiar names in the sport with Japan and host France leading the competition.

Team Philippines in Paris Olympics 2024: Meet the athletes

Here’s roadmap to follow for the men’s and women’s judo tournaments at the Paris Olympics 2024.

WHEN AND WHERE ARE THE EVENTS

Beginning July 27 (Saturday) all judo games from the quarters to the Finals in every division will be played in the Champ-de-Mars Arena, a temporary facility built in the public green space stretching out from the Eiffel Tower.

Paris Olympics 2024: How to watch, when it starts, key dates

BASICS OF THE SPORT

• The main objective of judo is to drop your opponent to the ground.
• Once on the floor, the players should immobilize their opponents in a pinning hold or even force them to surrender with several joint locks or chokes.
• In judo, there are two ways to score points.
• First, an ippon. It is rewarded when a player flawlessly and successfully drops his/her opponent to the ground with submission or by pinning an opponent to the ground for 20 seconds.
• One ippon automatically constitutes a win. In comparison, it’s like a technical knockout in boxing.
• The other point is called a waza-ari. It is awarded when a throw isn’t identified enough as an ippon.
• Notching two waza-ari is equivalent to one ippon, finishing the match in favor of the competitor with two waza-aris.
• Judo competitions are divided into two divisions for the men’s and women’s. A judo match lasts for four minutes and goes to an extra period in case of tied points.
• Penalties are awarded for passiveness during matches that are deemed contrary to the spirit of judo. –with reports from Rommel Fuertes/INQUIRER.net

HOW MANY MEDALS AT STAKE IN PARIS

• Like in the Tokyo Olympics, the judo events will have 15 gold medals up for grabs. All but one of those medals will be competed in the singles events (for men’s and women’s) and only one medal for the team event.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

(FILES) France’s Teddy Riner arrives to fight against South Korea’s Kim Minjong in the men’s +100kg final bout during the Paris Grand Slam judo tournament in Paris ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)

• Filipino bet Kiyomi Watanabe will return to the global competition after making history last Olympics by being the first Filipino woman judoka to qualify.
• Teddy Riner, France: The world’s most famous active judoka attempts to cap his incredible career with a record-tying third individual Olympic gold medal in front of his home fans. Now 35, Riner took a shocking quarterfinal loss in Tokyo, but the 11-time world champion heavyweight still won gold in the mixed team event.
• Uta Abe and Hifumi Abe, Japan: The siblings will attempt to win gold medals on the same day in the second consecutive Olympics. They accomplished the unprecedented feat three years ago in Tokyo, and both have won world championships in both of the two years since then.
• Clarisse Agbegnenou, France: The six-time world champion is the favorite to win her second straight Olympic gold. She’s trying to do it at home and less than two years after giving birth to her daughter.
• Lukas Krpalek, Czech Republic: Riner could get beaten to history by Krpalek, the comparatively unsung two-time Olympic champion who seized heavyweight gold in Tokyo after Riner was upset.

STORYLINES TO FOLLOW IN PARIS

• Repeated clashes between the two titans of the sport: Japan and France. Both nations will have a judoka in all 14 weight classes. After the Japanese team won nine gold medals in Tokyo, the French team is loaded with gold-medal contenders for Paris. Everything builds to a scintillating possible matchup in the mixed team competition between defending Olympic champion France and Japan, which has won seven consecutive world championships in mixed team.
• Riner’s pursuit of history will be the biggest day of the competition, and the heavyweight division is stacked. Riner and Krpalek haven’t fought each other since 2019, and the field is loaded with stars including Krpalek’s rival, Guram Tushishvili of Georgia, and Japanese 2022 world champion Tatsuru Saito, the son of two-time Olympic champion Hitoshi Saito.