Withing a few days the Paralympic Games will launch and judo will once again attract all the attention from 5th to 7th September. Janos Tardos has been leading the team that prepared the event under the auspices of the International Paralympic Committee and the International Blind Sports Federation.
"I am sure the competition will be fantastic because we have a fantastic venue that was already used for the Olympic Games, and incredible athletes. I can guarantee that the level will be very high and the spectacle will be of super high quality.
After the Tokyo Games, we took an important decision to create the J1 (blind) and J2 (partially sighted) categories. We can now see the full benefit of that decision. In Paris 51.4% of the competitors will be in the J1 category, which shows already the impact of our choices.
With 147 athletes from 43 countries present in the French capital, we are happy and proud. We have been working very hard to make sure that we will witness a great event, one that will mark history. The three days of competition will be exciting.
We are also very happy that we will have 16 medal events but maybe the one thing that makes us even prouder is the number of judoka in the women’s categories. Women will represent 45% of the global participation in judo. This is excellent. We have been working really hard to give the possibility to women to participate in our event and today we see the fruit of that policy.
We have a slightly different qualification system from the one for the Olympic Games and I think that it worked very well for the Paralympic Games this year. We will have the best athletes and at the same time we will see new countries. One criteria is universality. I am sure that in Paris we will have more countries reaching the podium than ever before.
I think that the high number of participants, the J1/J2 separation, women’s participation and the universality aspect show that IBSA Judo has done a great job over recent years and I know that the IPC is very happy with that.
In Tokyo, three years ago, Azerbaijan had six gold medals, which was fantastic. I think this year, it will be more difficult for one country to get so many gold medals and that is very good for the sport.
I must underline that all this would not have been possible without the support of the International Judo Federation. We have a true collaboration with the IJF and that really makes the difference, for instance, we will have the best referees, IJF superviros, the CARE system and many ITOs (International Techincal Officials) will be from the IJF. Our atheltes deserve the best and we give them the best."
The Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will begin on 28th August and the para-judo on 5th September. Janos Tardos and the whole team are ready and looking forward to a great event that will crown the best athletes in the world.