# Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Judo competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were held from August 9 to August 15 at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.
This was the fifth Olympics for Driulys González (Cuba), Mária Pekli (Australia), Ryoko Tamura-Tani (Japan). The only other judokas to compete at five Olympics are Robert Van de Walle (Belgium), the judoka-bobsledder Jorge Bonnet (Puerto Rico) and Telma Monteiro (Portugal). At Paris 2024 Teddy Riner joined this group as a 5-time Olympian.

## Medal table

* Host nation (China)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Japan | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | China* | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | South Korea | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Azerbaijan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Georgia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Mongolia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Romania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Cuba | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 11 | France | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 12 | Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 13 | North Korea | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 14 | Algeria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | Uzbekistan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 | Austria | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | Brazil | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 19 | Argentina | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Egypt | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Tajikistan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | United States | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (25 entries) | Totals (25 entries) | 14 | 14 | 28 | 56 |

## Medal summary
### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Extra-lightweight (60 kg) details | Choi Min-ho South Korea | Ludwig Paischer Austria | Rishod Sobirov Uzbekistan |
| Extra-lightweight (60 kg) details | Choi Min-ho South Korea | Ludwig Paischer Austria | Ruben Houkes Netherlands |
| Half-lightweight (66 kg) details | Masato Uchishiba Japan | Benjamin Darbelet France | Yordanis Arencibia Cuba |
| Half-lightweight (66 kg) details | Masato Uchishiba Japan | Benjamin Darbelet France | Pak Chol-min North Korea |
| Lightweight (73 kg) details | Elnur Mammadli Azerbaijan | Wang Ki-chun South Korea | Rasul Boqiev Tajikistan |
| Lightweight (73 kg) details | Elnur Mammadli Azerbaijan | Wang Ki-chun South Korea | Leandro Guilheiro Brazil |
| Half-middleweight (81 kg) details | Ole Bischof Germany | Kim Jae-bum South Korea | Tiago Camilo Brazil |
| Half-middleweight (81 kg) details | Ole Bischof Germany | Kim Jae-bum South Korea | Roman Gontiuk Ukraine |
| Middleweight (90 kg) details | Irakli Tsirekidze Georgia | Amar Benikhlef Algeria | Hesham Mesbah Egypt |
| Middleweight (90 kg) details | Irakli Tsirekidze Georgia | Amar Benikhlef Algeria | Sergei Aschwanden Switzerland |
| Half-heavyweight (100 kg) details | Naidangiin Tüvshinbayar Mongolia | Askhat Zhitkeyev Kazakhstan | Movlud Miraliyev Azerbaijan |
| Half-heavyweight (100 kg) details | Naidangiin Tüvshinbayar Mongolia | Askhat Zhitkeyev Kazakhstan | Henk Grol Netherlands |
| Heavyweight (+100 kg) details | Satoshi Ishii Japan | Abdullo Tangriev Uzbekistan | Teddy Riner France |
| Heavyweight (+100 kg) details | Satoshi Ishii Japan | Abdullo Tangriev Uzbekistan | Oscar Braison Cuba |

### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Extra-lightweight (48 kg) details | Alina Alexandra Dumitru Romania | Yanet Bermoy Cuba | Paula Pareto Argentina |
| Extra-lightweight (48 kg) details | Alina Alexandra Dumitru Romania | Yanet Bermoy Cuba | Ryoko Tani Japan |
| Half-lightweight (52 kg) details | Xian Dongmei China | An Kum-ae North Korea | Soraya Haddad Algeria |
| Half-lightweight (52 kg) details | Xian Dongmei China | An Kum-ae North Korea | Misato Nakamura Japan |
| Lightweight (57 kg) details | Giulia Quintavalle Italy | Deborah Gravenstijn Netherlands | Xu Yan China |
| Lightweight (57 kg) details | Giulia Quintavalle Italy | Deborah Gravenstijn Netherlands | Ketleyn Quadros Brazil |
| Half-middleweight (63 kg) details | Ayumi Tanimoto Japan | Lucie Décosse France | Elisabeth Willeboordse Netherlands |
| Half-middleweight (63 kg) details | Ayumi Tanimoto Japan | Lucie Décosse France | Won Ok-Im North Korea |
| Middleweight (70 kg) details | Masae Ueno Japan | Anaysi Hernández Cuba | Ronda Rousey United States |
| Middleweight (70 kg) details | Masae Ueno Japan | Anaysi Hernández Cuba | Edith Bosch Netherlands |
| Half-heavyweight (78 kg) details | Yang Xiuli China | Yalennis Castillo Cuba | Jeong Gyeong-mi South Korea |
| Half-heavyweight (78 kg) details | Yang Xiuli China | Yalennis Castillo Cuba | Stéphanie Possamaï France |
| Heavyweight (+78 kg) details | Tong Wen China | Maki Tsukada Japan | Idalys Ortiz Cuba |
| Heavyweight (+78 kg) details | Tong Wen China | Maki Tsukada Japan | Lucija Polavder Slovenia |

## Qualification

Together with 366 directly qualified athletes, there were 20 invitational places from a Tripartite Commission (genders and categories are yet to be decided), making up a total athlete quota of 386 athletes—217 men, 147 women and 22 places not yet allocated to a gender.
An NOC may enter up to one athlete per weight category. The qualifying places were allocated as follows:
| Event/Union | Date | Location | Men | Women | Totals |
| World Championships | September 13–16, 2007 | Rio de Janeiro | 6 | 6 | 84 |
| African Judo Union | May 2006 – May 2008 | — | 3 | 2 | 35 |
| Judo Union of Asia | Nov 2006 – Apr 2008 | — | 5 | 3 | 58 |
| European Judo Union | Apr 2007 – Apr 2008 | — | 9 | 5 | 98 |
| Oceania Judo Union | Sep 2007 – Mar 2008 | — | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| Pan American Judo Union | May 2006 – May 2008 | — | 6 | 3 | 63 |
| Host Nation (CHN) | — | — | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| TOTAL | | | 31 | 21 | 366 |
$^a$ Two additional places are awarded to this union, but gender and weight categories are to be defined.
$^b$ If the host nation qualified athletes directly through the world championships or Asian continental qualification system, the reserved entry places were reallocated as part of the Asian continental qualification.
Continental qualification places were allocated through the ranking system based on the major tournaments on the continent (continental championships, qualification tournaments). More important tournaments and tournaments closer to the Olympics carried more points. Deadline for the unions to confirm the places was May 21, 2008.