Judo at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Dates 25 September – 1 October 1988
Medal Events 7
Non-medal Events 7

Although judo was developed in Japan, it is hugely popular in Korea, where it is considered second only to taekwondo as a national sport. The sport was conducted at the Changchung Gymnasium, which was right in the center of Seoul. It was next to the Shilla Hotel, the main IOC Hotel, so security was very tight. It was felt to be the best Olympic judo venue to that date. The Korean judo fans gave the events a festive atmosphere, with a traditional Korean band with drums and flutes leading cheerleaders, which gave the judo venue a raucous feeling throughout. The Olympic Program was also slightly different, with the Open Class having been dropped from the program, although it continues to be contested at the World Championships.

Another addition in 1988 was that women contested a demonstration tournament, with the same seven classes as the men. Women had first competed in World Championships in 1980 and there was support for women’s judo to be added to the Olympic Games. The demonstration tournament convinced the IOC and from 1992 onwards, women have competed in judo at the Olympics as a full medal sport. One athlete who competed in the demonstration was Belgium’s Ingrid Berghmans, often considered the greatest ever female judoka. Between 1980 and 1989, Berghmans won six world titles and 11 medals at the World Championships. She was unfortunate that Olympic judo was never available to her as a medal sport, but in Seoul she easily won the half-heavyweight division.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Extra-Lightweight (≤60 kilograms), Men Olympic 25 September 1988 36 36
Half-Lightweight (≤65 kilograms), Men Olympic 26 September 1988 42 42
Lightweight (≤71 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 September 1988 41 41
Half-Middleweight (≤78 kilograms), Men Olympic 28 September 1988 41 41
Middleweight (≤86 kilograms), Men Olympic 29 September 1988 36 36
Half-Heavyweight (≤95 kilograms), Men Olympic 30 September 1988 21 21
Heavyweight (>95 kilograms), Men Olympic 1 October 1988 26 26
243 (243/0) 69 (69/0)

Non-medal events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Extra-Lightweight (≤48 kilograms), Women Olympic (non-medal) 25 September 1988 7 7
Half-Lightweight (≤52 kilograms), Women Olympic (non-medal) 26 September 1988 8 8
Lightweight (≤56 kilograms), Women Olympic (non-medal) 27 September 1988 8 8
Half-Middleweight (≤61 kilograms), Women Olympic (non-medal) 28 September 1988 8 8
Middleweight (≤66 kilograms), Women Olympic (non-medal) 29 September 1988 8 8
Half-Heavyweight (≤72 kilograms), Women Olympic (non-medal) 30 September 1988 7 7
Heavyweight (>72 kilograms), Women Olympic (non-medal) 1 October 1988 7 7
53 (0/53) 23 (0/23)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Extra-Lightweight, Men Kim Jae-YeopKOR Kevin AsanoUSA Shinji Hosokawa
Amiran T'ot'ik'ashvili
JPN
URS
Half-Lightweight, Men Lee Gyeong-GeunKOR Janusz PawłowskiPOL Bruno Carabetta
Yosuke Yamamoto
FRA
JPN
Lightweight, Men Marc AlexandreFRA Sven LollGDR Giorgi Tenadze
Mike Swain
URS
USA
Half-Middleweight, Men Waldemar LegieńPOL Frank WienekeFRG Torsten Bréchôt
Bashir Varayev
GDR
URS
Middleweight, Men Peter SeisenbacherAUT Vladimir ShestakovURS Akinobu Osako
Ben Spijkers
JPN
NED
Half-Heavyweight, Men Aurélio MiguelBRA Marc MeilingFRG Robert Van de Walle
Dennis Stewart
BEL
GBR
Heavyweight, Men Hitoshi SaitoJPN Henry StöhrGDR Jo Yong-Cheol
Grigory Verichev
KOR
URS

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Republic of Korea KOR 2 0 1 3
Poland POL 1 1 0 2
Japan JPN 1 0 3 4
France FRA 1 0 1 2
Austria AUT 1 0 0 1
Brazil BRA 1 0 0 1
East Germany GDR 0 2 1 3
West Germany FRG 0 2 0 2
Soviet Union URS 0 1 4 5
United States USA 0 1 1 2
Belgium BEL 0 0 1 1
Great Britain GBR 0 0 1 1
Netherlands NED 0 0 1 1