The U.S. team will not be announced until May 30, 2020, after the International Judo Federation releases its final world rankings for the sport. Direct qualification for the seven men’s and women’s weight categories will be made up from the 18 highest ranked athletes on the IJF 2020 Olympic Qualification World Ranking List as of May 30, 2020, with a maximum of one athlete per country in each weight class.
Given the ever developing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the International Judo Federation on March 9, 2020 announced the cancellation/postponement of all remaining scheduled 2020 Olympic Qualification Events. That decision froze the calendar locking in the Olympic qualification ranking points as of March 9, 2020. These rankings will not change until the IJF approved 2020 Olympic Qualification period resumes at a date still to be determined.
As the IJF's 2020 Olympic Qualification rankings currently stand, three USA Judo athletes are in a qualified position for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla./Ki-itsu-sai National Training Center/New York Athletic Club) sits solidly as the top Olympic hopeful for USA Judo. Her February 21, 2020 bronze medal performance at the Dusseldorf Grand Slam in Germany put her solidly as No.13 in the women’s 52 kg division with 2,850 points. Once Olympic qualification resumes, the 2016 U.S. Olympian will focus her energy on trying to improve her overall ranking to earn a coveted top eight seed in the Olympic bracket which would greatly enhance her potential to win a medal at this summer’s Olympic Games. Colton Brown (Piscataway, N.J./New York Athletic Club) leads USA Judo’s men’s team and is second on the U.S. list of overall Olympic qualifying points with 1,969 points. Brown is looking to make his second U.S. Olympic Judo Team in the 90 kg weight class, having also represented the United States at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The three-time world championship competitor placed seventh at the 2020 Tel Aviv Grand Slam event in Israel on January 23 and is currently No.26 internationally and has an IJF qualification status of continental quota. Nefeli Papadakis (Gurnee, Ill./ARENA Training Center) is currently the third ranked USA Judoka on the 2020 Olympic qualifying list and the top ranked U.S. woman and #27 overall in the 78 kg division with 1,375 points.
The next three highest ranked USA Judo athletes that are currently just outside of Olympic qualified status are: Nina Cutro-Kelly (Albany, N.Y./Selma, Texas/Universal Judo) in the women’s +78 kg division. Adonis Diaz (Hialeah, Fla./Ki-itsu-sai National Training Center/New York Athletic Club) in the men’s 60 kg weight class and L.A. Smith III (Rahway, N.J.) in the men’s under 100 kg division. For the full list of currently 2020NE Olympic qualification point standings for all USA Judo athletes, please visit: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Judo/2020-Olympics/Olympic.
The International Judo Federation’s 2020 Olympic qualification world ranking list began on May 25, 2018 and was frozen on March 9, 2020. As mentioned earlier, the IJF has announced that it intends to re-open the Olympic qualification period at a date still to be determined. This list will be used to allocate the 352 qualification places in hierarchical order for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Direct qualification for the seven women’s (-48kg, -52kg, -57kg, -63kg, -70kg, -78kg, +78kg) and seven men’s (-60kg, -66kg, -73kg, -81kg, -90kg, -100kg,+100kg) weight categories will be made up from the 18 highest ranked athletes on the ranking list with a maximum of one athlete per country in each weight class. An additional 100 athletes will be directly qualified as per the ranking list based on continental representation.
There will also be a new mixed team component added to the medal program in 2020, but for countries to be eligible the NOC must field a qualified athlete in the following six weight categories: women’s -57 kg., -70 kg ., +70 kg and men’s -73kg., -90 kg., +90 kg divisions.
For complete information on the 2020 Olympic Qualification System please visit: https://www.teamusa.org/usa-judo/2020-olympics/2020-olympic-qualification-system. To better understand how athletes earn qualification ranking points at designated tournaments, please visit: https://78884ca60822a34fb0e6-082b8fd5551e97bc65e327988b444396.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/up/2019/12/IJF_WRL_Events_version_2019_12-1575536064.pdf
Please continue to monitor the USA Judo website (https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Judo) and the International Judo Federation website (www.ijf.org) for official announcements and updates during this ever-changing and fluid COVID-19 crisis.