Brian Toth Selected as Referee for the 2024 Paralympic Games
by Nicole Jomantas
(Colorado Springs, CO) – The International Judo Federation and International Blind Sports Association have announced that Brian Toth (Seattle, WA) has been selected to serve as a referee for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
"I am deeply honored to have been selected as a referee at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. I am grateful to the IJF and IBSA Judo for the confidence they have placed in me to serve in this meaningful role, and I am humbled by the opportunity to play a small part in honoring the inspiring efforts and outstanding judo of the world's elite visually impaired athletes,” Toth said. “This journey would not be possible without the support, guidance and sacrifice from my many mentors, colleagues and most importantly, my family."
Toth earned his IJF-A International license at the 2021 Malaga European Cup and his IBSA license at the 2022 IBSA Pan American Championships. He made his debut on the World Tour at the 2023 Tel Aviv Grand Slam and is now ranked among the top 25 referees in the world on the IJF World Tour. In addition to officiating at seven World Tour events, Toth also served as a referee at the 2023 World University Games as well as the 2023 Pan American Games.
He will join the other 2024 Paralympic Games referees in officiating the IBSA Tbilisi Grand Prix next month in Georgia which will serve as the final selection tournament for the Paris Paralympic Games.
The head coach for the adult judo program at Seattle Dojo, the oldest judo dojo in the United States, Toth said he has been inspired by one of his students who is completely blind and deaf.
“His journey in judo has been an inspiration for me to learn more about visually impaired judo, and has been a gift to my life as a means of learning about deaf and blind communication and culture in general,” Toth said.
Off the mat, Toth serves as a patent translator for Sound Patent Translations which focuses on translating patents and other patent-related documents from Japanese to English.
Toth follows in the footsteps of numerous U.S. referees who have officiated the Paralympic Games, including Gary Moore (Apple Valley, CA) who refereed both the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games as well as Gary Berliner (Cumming, GA) who served as a referee at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games and chief referee and mat supervisor at the 2016 and 2020 Games.