A roadmap to follow for the men's and women's judo tournaments at the Paris Olympics: (More Sports News)
Judo Athletes to Watch At Paris Olympics:
—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: 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:
—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.
Key Dates:
—Judo begins on July 27 and concludes on Aug. 3 with the mixed team competition. The bouts will be held at Champ-de-Mars Arena, a temporary facility built in the public green space stretching out from the Eiffel Tower.
Reigning Champions:
—Men's 60 kg: Naohisa Takato, Japan.
—Men's 66 kg: Hifumi Abe, Japan.
—Men's 73 kg: Shohei Ono, Japan.
—Men's 81 kg: Takanori Nagase, Japan.
—Men's 90 kg: Lasha Bekauri, Georgia.
—Men's 100 kg: Aaron Wolf, Japan.
—Men's +100 kg: Lukas Krpalek, Czech Republic.
—Women's 48 kg: Distria Krasniqi, Kosovo.
—Women's 52 kg: Uta Abe, Japan.
—Women's 57 kg: Nora Gjakova, Kosovo.
—Women's 63 kg: Clarisse Agbegnenou, France.
—Women's 70 kg: Chizuru Arai, Japan.
—Women's 78 kg: Shori Hamada, Japan.
—Women's +78 kg: Akira Sone, Japan.
—Mixed team: France.
