Judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics

The Judo competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics was the return of the sport following its absence at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Medals were awarded in six weight classes, and competition was restricted to men only. Among the highlights was Willem Ruska of the Netherlands winning gold medals in both the heavyweight and open class competition, becoming the first judoka to win two olympic gold medals.

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Lightweight 63 kg	Takao Kawaguchi Japan (JPN)	vacant[1]	Kim Yong-Ik North Korea (PRK)  Jean-Jacques Mounier France (FRA)
Half Middleweight 70 kg	Toyokazu Nomura Japan (JPN)	Anton Zajkowski Poland (POL)	Dietmar Hötger East Germany (GDR)  Anatoliy Novikov Soviet Union (URS)
Middleweight 80 kg	Shinobu Sekine Japan (JPN)	Oh Seung-Lip South Korea (KOR)	Jean-Paul Coche France (FRA)  Brian Jacks Great Britain (GBR)
Half-Heavyweight 93 kg	Shota Chochishvili Soviet Union (URS)	David Starbrook Great Britain (GBR)	Paul Barth West Germany (FRG)  Chiaki Ishii Brazil (BRA)
Heavyweight +93 kg	Willem Ruska Netherlands (NED)	Klaus Glahn West Germany (FRG)	Motoki Nishimura Japan (JPN)  Givi Onashvili Soviet Union (URS)
Open category	Willem Ruska Netherlands (NED)	Vitali Kuznetsov Soviet Union (URS)	Jean-Claude Brondani France (FRA)  Angelo Parisi Great Britain (GBR)

1. The silver medal was originally awarded to Bakhvain Buyadaa of Mongolia, but Buyadaa was stripped of his medal after he tested positive for excessive caffeine.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan (JPN)	3	0	1	4
2	Netherlands (NED)	2	0	0	2
3	Soviet Union (URS)	1	1	2	4
4	Great Britain (GBR)	0	1	2	3
5	West Germany (FRG)	0	1	1	2
6	Poland (POL)	0	1	0	1
	South Korea (KOR)	0	1	0	1
8	France (FRA)	0	0	3	3
9	Brazil (BRA)	0	0	1	1
	East Germany (GDR)	0	0	1	1
	North Korea (PRK)	0	0	1	1
Total		6	5	12	23

References

• "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
• Sports123.com
• Videos of the 1972 Judo Summer Olympics