Judo

About Judo

Contested in weight categories for men and women, judo bouts are won by scoring a full point (ippon) through a clean throw, pin or submission, or by accumulating lesser scores, with matches decided within a set time limit or, if level, by sudden-death golden score.

Judo has been on the Olympic programme for men since 1964 and for women since 1992, and Ireland has fielded competitors across both eras: John Ryan was Ireland's first Olympic judoka at Tokyo 1964, and Kieran Foley's seventh-place finish at Los Angeles 1984 stood as the country's best Olympic judo result for decades. Lisa Kearney became the first Irish woman to compete in Olympic judo at London 2012, and siblings Ben and Megan Fletcher represented Ireland together at Tokyo 2020, with Megan going on to win a World Championship bronze medal, the highest level reached by an Irish judoka to date.