Uta Abe
Japanese judoka (born 2000)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Uta Abe (阿部 詩, Abe Uta; born 14 July 2000) is a Japanese judoka who competes in the Women's half-lightweight (52 kg) division.[1] She won the gold medal in the Women's 52 kg competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics and two silver medals in a row with the Japanese team in the judo mixed team events at the 2020[2][3] and 2024 Summer Olympics.[4] Abe is also a five-time world champion, having won the gold medal in her weight category at the World Judo Championships in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2025.
She rose to prominence after winning her first senior gold medal, aged just 16, at the 2017 Judo Grand Prix Düsseldorf, thus becoming the youngest IJF senior competition winner in history.[5][6]
Personal life
Abe is the younger sister of another stellar judoka, Hifumi Abe, who competes in the Men's 66 kg division. He's a double Olympic champion, having won two consecutive gold medals in his weight category at the Summer Olympics (2020 and 2024), as well as a four-time world champion.[7][8][9][10]
Judo career
Abe became the youngest ever Judoka to win an IJF (International Judo Federation) Grand Prix, when she captured first place at the Düsseldorf Grand Prix in February 2017.[11]
Abe participated at the 2018 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan and won her first world title at 18 years of age, making her the third-youngest Judoka to ever capture a senior World title.[12] Abe firstly defeated Polish judoka Karolina Pieńkowska and Fabienne Kocher of Switzerland. She then defeated Jéssica Pereira of Brazil and in the semi-finals defeated Amandine Buchard of France in under 40 seconds, by armlock to make her way into the finals. In the finals, Abe was matched with teammate and former-world champion Ai Shishime,[13] and defeated Shishime with a spectacular uchi-mata in golden score for ippon.[14]
In 2021, Abe won the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on the same day that her brother Hifumi won the gold medal in his judo division.[15]
Abe won the gold medal in the women's 52 kg event at the 2023 World Judo Championships held in Doha, Qatar.
She was defeated by Diyora Keldiyorova of Uzbekistan in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.[16] This was her first competition loss since her defeat to Amandine Buchard of France at the Osaka Grand Slam in 2019, over 4 years earlier.
