ABSTRACT
The chapter will look at the rules of competition judo, and how these have differed between men and women historically. Examples include the white stripe through the belt used to denote a women’s grade, the rules on the use of t-shirts, and hair bands, and the differing contest lengths. In addition, there will be discussion on the recent introduction of a mixed-gender team format not only for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, accepted by the IOC for judo, but also for four other sports. Discussion will also cover the development of judo for women as a competitive sport, with the introduction as an Olympic discipline in 1992, 28 years after the men’s equivalent. The influence of key figures will be considered including Rusty Kanokogi, the organiser of the first Women’s World Judo Championships in New York, USA, and Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae, then the President of the International Judo Federation, who adopted women’s judo as an internationally recognised sport. The challenges faced in these innovations will be explored.
