History
The first world judo championships were held in Tokyo in 1956. There was only a single champion until 1965, when the lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight classes were added, along with the open division.
Half middleweight and half heavyweight classes were added in 1967 and two more weight classes, extra lightweight and half lightweight, were introduced in 1979.
In 1980, the first world women's championships were held in New York City. Women's championships were staged in even-numbered years and men's in odd-numbered years until 1987, when the two were merged into a single world championship meet.