Gold and silver medals in each weight class were determined by a single-elimination bracket.

The winners of these two matches were each awarded a bronze medal, making judo unusual among Olympic events in not determining a single third-place finisher.

There was controversy in the men's competition, when Iranian competitor and two-times world champion Arash Miresmaeili weighed in overweight and was disqualified before a match in which he would have faced Israeli judoka Ehud Vaks.

Miresmaeili's comments strongly suggested that he had intentionally disqualified himself so as not to compete against an Israeli.

The qualifying places were allocated as follows:[3][4] a If the host nation qualified athletes directly through the world championships or European continental qualification system, the reserved entry places were reallocated as part of the European continental qualification.