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 and 2024 Summer Olympics.[2][3] Abe is also a four-time world champion, having won the gold medal in her weight category at the World Judo Championships in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Uta 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.[6][7][8][9]
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.[10]
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.[11] Abe firstly defeated Polish judoka Karolina Pieńkowska and Fabienne Kocher of Switzerland. She then defeated Jéssica Pereira of Brazil and in the semi-finals she 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,[12] and defeated Shishime with a spectacular uchi-mata in golden score for ippon.[13]
