In order for the competition to be fair for each of the athletes involved and as is always the case, the control of the judogi is an important phase, rarely seen but taking place backstage, playing a preponderant role during the events of the World Judo Tour.
At the beginning of the year a new system of measuring the length of the jacket and the crossing of the lapels was put in place. In order to allow the delegations and their athletes to be able to acquire a judogi complying with the regulations, the application of the updated rule, which was initially planned to come into force at the Grand Slam Ulaanbaatar, last June, for the start of the Olympic qualification, was postponed until after the World Championships Doha in May 2023.
The Education and Coaching Commission in charge of judogi control made the following observation: any athlete not arriving with a conforming judogi will be excluded from the competition. The standard of the dimensions of the judogi were set up with equity as the primary concern. It allows the opponent to grab the judogi easily for the practice of judo and the search for ippon. Any judogi that is not in compliance will not be accepted.
Judogi control is not a constraint, it is the guarantee that everyone has an equal chance to practise the sport and to perform, the only differences being knowledge and the quality of judo.
Education being the key word for the development of judo, the IJF will continue to inform all athletes and delegations regularly. Now in Jerusalem, let the best win and show that judo is more than a sport, where the equipment is never a means to win but a tool to practise at the highest level.