New Jersey Olympian Wins First International Judo Competition

Combat Sports and Martial Arts date back thousands of years to ancient civilizations. Boxing, Wrestling, and Shaolin Kung Fu are among the oldest forms, with numerous disciplines branching off from what was originally taught centuries ago.

One of the younger Martial Arts Discipline that is popular today is Judo.  First created in 1882 by Jigoro Kano, it was based on the Ancient Samurai self-defense techniques and utilizes submission moves from Jujutsu (the forerunner of modern Jiu-Jitsu).

Kano's Kodokan Judo Institute in Japan is still the international authority on Judo Teachings and Competitions over 140 years later. So it should be no surprise that Japan has won the most Olympic Medals and International Competitions in Judo.

But the growth of Judo as a sport in the United States has made the USA a respected force in the world of International Judo Competition. Over the last 40 years, the United States has won 14 Medals in Judo at the Olympics and 28 World Championship Medals.

The latest US Judo Champion is from New Jersey

The 2024 Olympics in Paris were the second straight Summer Olympics in which the United States did not win any medals in Judo. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Kayla Harrison and Travis Stevens won Judo Gold Medals.

But for 2024 Olympian Jack Yonezuka, he finally had his breakthrough at the 2025 Senior Pan American-Oceania Championships.  The International Competition hosted in Santiago, Chile is where Yonezuka won the Gold Medal in the 73 KG Judo Competition.

The soon-to-be 23-year-old Judokan is from West Long Branch, New Jersey. Yonezuka won the 2022 USA Judo Senior National Championship and would follow up that win by earning the Silver Medal at the 2023 Junior World Judo Championships.

Jack Yonezuka was the youngest member of the 2024 US Olympic Judo Team. Yonezuka, who is currently the 20th-ranked Judokan in the World, had a disappointing 17th-place finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But in Chile, Yonezuka got back on track by winning the Judo Gold Medal at the 2025 Senior Pan American-Oceania Championships.  Considering that Travis Stevens was 30 years old and Kayla Harrison was 26 years old at the 2016 Olympics, New Jersey's Jack Yonezuka still has time to compete for medals at future Olympic Competitions.