Japan dominated the IJF World Tour in 2021

The World Judo Tour has come to an end in Abu Dhabi. The World Judo Tour includes the Masters held in Qatar in the beginning of year. Leaving aside the world championships, Japan has added 28 titles from ten IJF World Tour tournaments, including four in which they did not even participate. That is, 28 golds from six tournaments! That dominance was practically absolute in the grand slams of Tashkent (9), Paris (7) and Baku (5).

Also, there is a balance between women and men. This means that, for yet another year, Japan continues to be the best country in the world in terms of judo. When there are Japanese judoka in tournaments, there are gold medals for them and the rest already know that parameter. Removing Japan from universal sovereignty does not seem possible for now, but it is possible to try to reduce the difference. Kenta Nagasawa, Uta Abe and Momo Tamaoki won two Grand Slams this year.

The French delegation won 14 golds. The difference, beyond the figures, lies in the real imbalance that exists between the women's and men's teams. The Frenchman women form a formidable squad that guides the Japanese and at times, surpasses them. Romane Dicko was the only to take 3 gold medals.

France is on the heels of the third largest on the planet, Russia, with two fewer gold medals. Russia is a judo nation with exceptional judoka and is already baking the next generation of champions, whose first results are promising. Arman Adamian was the man with three World Tour victories and all in post Games time from September.

Some countries will always remain among the top five against all odds, such as Georgia and the Netherlands. There are countries with a huge projection, such as Israel, Kosovo, Belgium and Croatia, others that have reappeared after a long journey through the desert, such as Germany and Great Britain where Lucy Renshall contributed with three Grand Slam victories. Others that come and go such as Italy and Spain and finally, countries with relative success that are in full swing, such as Mongolia and Uzbekistan.

Watch which athlete wo nthe most IJF World Tour medals this year in our judo stats generator.