Scoring
All scoring and refereeing terms are in Japanese. During
a contest, for either men or women, a judoka (a person
who practices the art of judo) may record an ippon
(full-point), a waza-ari (“almost” ippon,
a half of a point), a yuko (“almost” waza-ari,
a quarter of a point), and a koka (“almost” yuko,
an eighth of a point). There are negative scores too,
resulting from hansoku-make (very grave infringements),
keikoku (grave infringements), chui (serious infringements),
and shido (slight infringements). The negative scores
are recorded in favor of the contestant who did not
commit the violation.
Competition
A judo match is won by the first to score an ippon or its
equivalent, which is the sum of two waza-ari, known as
an awaste ippon. A judoka earns an ippon by throwing
his opponent to the mat (or tatame) with considerable
force or speed, maintaining a hold for 30 seconds, applying
armbar (elbow-joint-locking) techniques, or choking the
rival while avoiding any action that might injure the
neck or spine. (It is not allowed to put a lock on any
bodily joint other than the elbow, as this could seriously
injure the opponent.) An awaste ippon is earned by successfully
executing one of the throwing techniques, which is given
a waza-ari, followed by a 25-second hold-down, or vice
versa, or by winning a waza-ari at the same time the
opponent received a keikoku. If neither contestant is
able to do this within the time limit, then a decision
is rendered by the referee and two judges based on who
demonstrated the better judo technique. Any lesser scores
earned are counted toward the decision. Judo is divided
into weight categories much like boxing. For the Sydney
Olympic Summer Games they were extra lightweight, half
lightweight, lightweight, half middleweight, middleweight,
half heavyweight, and heavyweight.
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