Mixed Team Event requested by IJF to IOC for Tokyo Olympics

The International Judo Federation have officially applied for a mixed team event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. “It is only natural that judo officially presents to the International Olympic Committee its request for a mixed team event at the Tokyo 2020 Games.”

Including a mixed team event within the Olympic program will further contribute to the development of Olympic sport and athletes worldwide. Further, it will spotlight the team spirit and the team approach to judo and its core values.

The mixed team will be composed of six (6) athletes: (3 women, -57kg, -70kg, +70kg, and 3 men, - 73kg, -90kg, +90kg).

Critically, there will be no impact on the number of athletes. Athletes will be those from the individual events.

The proposed competition system: a quarterfinal repechage, with the four (4) best teams seeded.

A minimum of 12 teams will be expected to take part in this exciting format. Each team will be made up of athletes who qualified for the individual competition, taking into consideration their world ranking points for individual Olympic Games qualification.

In total, the sum of six (6) best results / number of WRL points / for every six (6) team categories will decide the final ranking for each nominated team.

The first world championships for teams was held in 1994 for men and 1997 for women. To date, 12 team world championships have been organized both for men and women. Since 1998, the individual and team world championships have been held within the same event.

Team competitions are organized as well for different age categories (cadets and Juniors) and always produce an incredible atmosphere.

A mixed team event format was proposed and successfully took place at the first two editions of the Youth Olympic Games, in Singapore and Nanjing.

The team competition will prove to have special appeal to youth. It involves more than just one’s personal skills, experience, preparation and focus. It will make plain the rewards of working together, sharing responsibility, being empathic and supportive – all the while performing at one’s very best and working towards a common goal.