Why is Judo in the olympics rather than other martial arts?

Why was Judo chosen?|||Because it%26#039;s a SPORT martial arts style.


You can%26#039;t have Krav Maga for example compete. Since they are self defense styles, or martial styles, they can not be used in friendly competition.


Because they use techniques which goes against the rules. Almost all of the styles use eye gouges and groin grabs and such other techniques. They%26#039;d just look the same if they cut those techniques. It would just look like an ordinary kick-boxing match.|||Having competed in the Olympic trials one year in TKD as well as having some prior experience with this I can tell you a couple of reasons why I think. First, Judo was a sport that had standardized weight classes, standardized rules, and a standard format for judging and scoring. They also had a standard format for training judges and referees and since it was practiced all over the world in the 50s and 60s it made it into the Olympics. TKD has followed much the same path and that is one of the reasons why it also made it into the Olympics. Karate with its various styles, organizations, and factions can%26#039;t and couldn%26#039;t agree on things or come to a resolution on these things and so they were left out and continue to be for that reason.





That may change in the near future since there has been a strong movement to put it into the Olympics mounted again and an International conference took place earlier this year with some Olympic committee officials in attendance. That and the fact that the Olympic committee only requires a simple majority for something to be added now instead of the three fourths majority they used to require may get it in. They feel at this time that they are within about a dozen votes of having a simple majority at this time.|||The main reason is because the Japan was hosting the %26#039;64 Olympics and wanted a Japanese sport in it.





More generally, sports looking to get into the Olympics need:





To be played by people across the world. (I believe in theory there should be multiple countries in with a chance of medals; doesn%26#039;t always work that way but there you go.)





To have an international governing body, and established ruleset.





To have people willing to lobby the IOC to get in. That%26#039;s basically what it comes down to: politics. Also, there%26#039;s only a max of 28 sports (26 next time in London) allowed at any Olympics and quite a few of those (athletics, swimming, football, etc.) aren%26#039;t going anywhere, so getting into the Olympics requires years of work by some organization willing to put in the effort. Judo got in back when it was less cutthroat; TKD got in because of years of effort and promotion by the South Korean government.





Finally, don%26#039;t expect any more combat sports in the Olympics anytime soon. Reportedly, the IOC feels they have enough, and there have even been some suggestions of dropping boxing because it%26#039;s too %26#039;violent%26#039;. *sigh*|||Cause it%26#039;s more sporty than other styles. I personally don%26#039;t really consider a MA a sport, but that%26#039;s just me. Tournaments are good, sporting events involving martial arts are just funny to me. They don%26#039;t capture the spirit of martial arts.|||You moron, you speak as if judo is the only %26#039;martial%26#039; art in the Olympics. There is validity in wrestling, boxing, tae kwon do, wand wu shu in addition to judo in regard to martial science.





Why not judo?, I rebuddle.|||Because it is a competitive sport... like wrestling or boxing. Taekwondo was also in the last Olympics. Most of the %26quot;do%26quot; arts have evolved into sports. (Kendo for example).|||Boxing and Tae Kwon Do and the different styles of wrestling are martial arts as well and both are in the Olympics.|||go to www.judoinfo.com ...its the best judo site on the planet and will better answer your questions than anyone here probably can.