Road to Paris: Your Look at Olympic Judo Qualification

As the 2024 IJF World Tour kicks off this weekend at the Portugal Grand Prix in Odivelas, qualification for the Paris Olympic Games will be in full force for judoka around the world.

The Road to Paris began in June of 2022 and the two-year qualification process has wound through competitions held on six continents before the qualification period ends on June 24, 2024.

The following World Tour events remain as Team USA’s athletes travel the worlds in pursuit of securing a berth to the 2024 Olympic Games:

• Jan. 26-28: Portugal Grand Prix (Odivelas, Portugal)
• Feb. 2-4: Paris Grand Slam (Paris, France)
• Feb. 16-18: Baku Grand Slam (Baku, Azerbaijan)
• March 1-3: Tashkent Grand Slam (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
• March 8-10: Upper Austria Grand Prix (Linz, Austria)
• March 22-24: Tbilisi Grand Slam (Tbilisi, Georgia)
• March 29-31: Antalya Grand Slam (Antalya, Turkey)
• May 3-5: Qazaqstan Barysy Grand Slam (Astana, Kazakhstan)
• May 12-24: Senior World Championships (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)

In addition, the Senior Pan American / Oceania Championships will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from April 25-27.

IJF World Tour Schedule

IJF Qualification System

USA Judo Athlete Selection Procedures

USA Judo Staff Selection Procedures

Qualification FAQ

Olympic Ranking List

Athletes earn individual World / Olympic Ranking List points at seven types of events with the maximum point value as follows:

Senior World Championships: 2,000

Masters: 1,800

Grand Slam: 1,000

Grand Prix: 700

Junior World Championships: 700

Continental Championships: 700

Continental Open: 100

The World Ranking List includes points earned during the past 24 months. Athletes are eligible to earn points at the above events and may carry points from six events in the current 12-month period which are valued at 100% and six events from the previous 12-month period which are valued at 50%. As time passes, events move from the “Latest 12 months” column to the “Previous 12 months” column and decrease in value by 50%. After two years, an athlete’s points are removed from the list.

The Olympic Ranking List include those tournaments on the World Ranking List that are held between June 24, 2022 – June 23, 2024.

An example of U.S. athletes on the Olympic Ranking List (as of Jan. 1, 2024) is as follows:

A maximum of 186 men’s and 186 women’s quotas will be awarded for a total of 338 judo athletes to compete at the Paris Olympic Games with a maximum number of seven men and seven women (one per individual event qualifying for Paris from each nation.

Did You Know? In 2020, 128 nations were represented in judo competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Only two nations, Korea and host Japan, had a full team of 14 athletes compete at the Games. Brazil, France, Germany and the Russian Olympic Committee each qualified 13 athletes.

The majority of athletes will qualify for the Paris Games through quota places with additional allocations awarded to the host country as well as mixed team event invitation places and universality places.

Men: 169
Women: 169
Total: 338

Men: 119
Women: 119
Total: 238

Quota places are awarded to athletes by name directly via the athlete’s position on the World Ranking list as of June 25, 2024. An athlete who is ranked in the top 17 on the World Ranking List will qualify for the Paris Games. If any country has more than one athlete in the top 17, that nation may choose which athlete to send to the Games.

Important Reminder: The top 17 position is AFTER the removal of additional qualifiers from any single country. For example: If Country X has three athletes in the top 17, only one will compete at the Games. Therefore, athletes ranked 18 and 19 would receive a quota place. If Country Y has two athletes in the top 17, the No. 20 ranked athlete would receive a quota place.

Men: 50
Women: 50
Total: 100  

Each nation also may qualify a maximum of ONE athlete through the continental qualification process. Athletes who do not qualify through direct qualification will be placed on a Continental Ranking List with allocations as follows:

NOTE: The Continental Ranking List includes both men and women across all weight categories.

If the U.S. has two athletes ranked in the top 17, as of June 25, 2024, in the same weight category, a 2024 Olympic Trials – Judo (date and location, TBA) will be held. If the higher IJF-ranked athlete wins the first match, he/she shall be the athlete selected in that weight category of competition. If the higher IJF-ranked athlete loses, then the athletes shall engage in a best-of-three fight-off with the winner being selected to the team. If three or more athletes are ranked among the top 17, a single elimination Trials will be held with athletes seeded according to their positions on the World Ranking List as of June 25, 2024. If the highest ranked athlete on the aforementioned WRL wins the single elimination bracket, he/she shall be selected to the team. If the highest ranked athlete does not win the single elimination bracket, a best-of-three match fight-off will be held with the winner being selected to the team.

Should a Trials be necessary, the date and location of the Trials will be announced at least 45 days prior to the event.

At the Tokyo Games, the mixed team event made its Olympic debut in judo with 12 teams competing in the inaugural event, including a Refugee Olympic Team.

Did You Know? France won gold in mixed team at the Tokyo Games with Japan winning silver and Germany taking bronze.

A nation may compete in the mixed team event if the team has athletes who qualify in the individual events in the weight categories used for mixed team as follows:

Women’s 57kg (48kg, 52kg, 57kg)
Women’s 70kg (57kg, 63kg, 70kg)
Women’s +70kg (70kg, 78kg, +78kg)
Men’s 73kg (60kg, 66kg, 73kg)
Men’s 90kg (73kg, 81kg, 90kg)
Men’s +90kg (90kg, 100kg, +100kg)

If a nation only has five eligible athletes for the mixed team event, that nation may be eligible to receive ONE additional individual athlete quota. The highest ranked eligible nation in each continent from the World Team Ranking List will receive the additional individual athlete quota which is then awarded to the athlete with the most points on the individual World Ranking List in the weight category that needs to be filled.

Men: 7
Women: 7
Total: 14

As the host nation, France automatically receives a quota place in each of the seven individual men’s and women’s weight categories. 

Universality Places

Total: 15

Nations may submit requests for any of the 15 universality places available across the men’s and women’s events by January 15, 2024.