World Judo Championships

The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international judo competition, next to the quadrennial judo events at the Summer Olympic Games. The world championships are held by the International Judo Federation annually, except the calendar years of the Summer Olympics. Qualified judoka compete in their respective categories as representatives of their home countries. Team fixtures have also been held since 1994. The men's championships first took place in 1956, though the format and periodicity of the competition have changed over time. The last edition of the World Judo Championships (2024) was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The first edition of the world championships took place in Tokyo, Japan in 1956. There were no weight classes at the time and Japanese judoka Shokichi Natsui became the first world champion in history, defeating fellow countryman Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu in the final. The second world championship was also held in Tokyo two years later, with the Japanese winning the top two spots in the competition for the second time. In 1961, the championship was held outside Japan for the first time, and Dutch judoka Anton Geesink defeated the prior world champion, Koji Sone, in Paris, France, to become the first non-Japanese world champion.
The 1965 World Judo Championships were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and weight classes were implemented for the first time with the addition of the −68 kg, −80 kg, and +80 kg categories. Judo had become an Olympic sport at the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo initially for men, and a permanent sport after a brief absence at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Despite this progressive enlargement, it took until 1980 for women to participate in the world championships. The first women's world championships were held in New York City in 1980, and were held in alternating years as the men's championships until the 1987 World Judo Championships in Essen, where the two competitions were merged into one world championship. The mixed championships have been held biannually since 1987. On the Commonwealth Games side, Judo was added to the Commonwealth Games programme, initially as an optional sport for the first three editions in 1990, 2002 and 2014 but it is now a core sport from 2022 onwards. The women’s judo was included at the 1992 Summer Olympics. In 2005, the world championships made its debut on the African continent in Cairo, Egypt. In the International Judo Federation meeting held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007 (during the 2007 World Judo Championships), it was decided that France would host the world championships for the fifth time in 2011.
There are currently 16 tournaments in the world championships, with 8 weight classes for each gender.
The world championships have been held in every continent except Oceania and Antarctica.
The first World Team Judo Championships was held in 1994 as separate event and only for men's national teams. The first World Team Judo Championships for women's national team was held as separate event in 1997. Since 1998, World Team Judo Championships for men's and women's national teams have been held at the same time and venue. It were held every four years until 2006 (although promotional team events were held during 2003 and 2005 World Judo Championships) and every year from 2007 to 2015 (except 2009). Since 2011 men's and women's team competitions became the part of World Judo Championships. Starting from 2017, it were merged into mixed team competition. Judokas who participates in the individual events at the World Championships often do not participate in the team competition.
The results of promotional team events which were held during 2003 and 2005 World Judo Championships are not included into overall statistics.
List of World Judo Championships medalists
Updated after the 2024 World Judo Championships.
This table include all medals in the individual and team competitions won at the World Judo Championships as well as at the separate World Team Judo Championships and separate World Judo Open Championships.
Boldface denotes active judokas and highest medal count among all judokas (including these who not included in these tables) per type.
# including one medal of the World Team Championships won as reserve * including one medal of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only ** including two medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only *## including one medal of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and two won as reserve *** including three medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only
# including one medal of the World Team Championships won as reserve * including one medal of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only **# including two medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and one won as reserve **## including two medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and two won as reserve ****# including four medals of the World Team Championships won for participation in the qualifying only and one won as reserve