# Judo at the 1984 Summer Olympics

The Judo competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics continued the seven weight classes first used at the 1980 Games. With the open division, there were eight competitions. Powerhouse Japan returned to the top of the medal count after eight years, having boycotted the Moscow games. Because of the Soviet-led boycott of the Los Angeles games, several traditionally strong judo countries, including Cuba and the Soviet Union, did not participate. The Judo competition was held at California State University, Los Angeles.
Austrian Peter Seisenbacher in the 86 kg class won the gold medal, as did Hitoshi Saito of Japan in the over 95 kg class, feats they would repeat in 1988, becoming the first judoka to win gold at two Olympics.
In the open division, four-time world champion Yasuhiro Yamashita tore a right calf muscle in the preliminary match against Arthur Schnabel. This put Yamashita at a huge disadvantage since he executed his throws by pivoting on his right leg. Though he managed to win the match with an Okuri-Eri-Jime, the injury caused him to visibly limp during the semi-final match against Laurent Del Colombo. Yamashita was thrown with an Osoto Gari only 30 seconds into the match, but managed to return an Osoto Gari and won the match with a Yoko-Shiho-Gatame (side four-quarter hold). He played the final match against Mohamed Ali Rashwan of Egypt. Yamashita won the final and the gold medal despite his injury. The match witnessed a remarkable fair play act from Rashwan who did not aim for Yamashita's right leg. Rashwan was even given an award from the International Fairplay Committee.
Popular pro wrestler/judoka Chris Adams appeared as an advisor to the UK Judo squad, where his brother Neil Adams won a silver medal in the 78 kg class. It was the third and final Olympics the Adams brothers were involved in, competitor or otherwise.

## Medal summary

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Extra Lightweight 60 kg details | Shinji Hosokawa Japan | Kim Jae-yup South Korea | Neil Eckersley Great Britain Edward Liddie United States |
| Half Lightweight 65 kg details | Yoshiyuki Matsuoka Japan | Hwang Jung-oh South Korea | Marc Alexandre France Josef Reiter Austria |
| Lightweight 71 kg details | Ahn Byeong-keun South Korea | Ezio Gamba Italy | Kerrith Brown Great Britain Luiz Onmura Brazil |
| Half Middleweight 78 kg details | Frank Wieneke West Germany | Neil Adams Great Britain | Mircea Frăţică Romania Michel Nowak France |
| Middleweight 86 kg details | Peter Seisenbacher Austria | Robert Berland United States | Walter Carmona Brazil Seiki Nose Japan |
| Half Heavyweight 95 kg details | Ha Hyung-joo South Korea | Douglas Vieira Brazil | Bjarni Friðriksson Iceland Günther Neureuther West Germany |
| Heavyweight +95 kg details | Hitoshi Saito Japan | Angelo Parisi France | Mark Berger Canada Cho Yong-chul South Korea |
| Open category details | Yasuhiro Yamashita Japan | Mohamed Ali Rashwan Egypt | Mihai Cioc Romania Arthur Schnabel West Germany |

## Participating nations

* Argentina (4)
* Australia (3)
* Austria (4)
* Belgium (2)
* Bolivia (1)
* Brazil (7)
* Cameroon (6)
* Canada (8)
* Chile (1)
* China (5)
* Chinese Taipei (4)
* Costa Rica (4)
* Republic of the Congo (3)
* Cyprus (2)
* Denmark (1)
* Dominican Republic (2)
* Ecuador (1)
* Egypt (6)
* El Salvador (2)
* Fiji (2)
* Finland (3)
* France (8)
* Great Britain (8)
* Guinea (1)
* Honduras (1)
* Hong Kong (4)
* Iceland (2)
* Ireland (1)
* Israel (2)
* Italy (5)
* Ivory Coast (2)
* Japan (8)
* Kuwait (5)
* Lebanon (3)
* Liechtenstein (2)
* Mali (1)
* Mexico (4)
* Monaco (1)
* Morocco (3)
* Netherlands (3)
* New Zealand (3)
* Norway (3)
* Paraguay (1)
* Peru (1)
* Portugal (4)
* Puerto Rico (2)
* Romania (3)
* San Marino (2)
* Senegal (6)
* South Korea (8)
* Spain (6)
* Suriname (1)
* Sweden (4)
* Switzerland (2)
* Tunisia (3)
* Turkey (3)
* United States (8)
* Venezuela (1)
* West Germany (8)
* Yugoslavia (5)
* Zambia (3)

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Japan | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | South Korea | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | West Germany | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Austria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Brazil | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | France | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 8 | United States | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Egypt | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Italy | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Romania | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 12 | Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | Iceland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (13 entries) | Totals (13 entries) | 8 | 8 | 16 | 32 |