| Event: | Judo |
| Games: | 2008 Summer |
| Venue: | Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium |
| Dates: | 9 – 15 August 2008 |
| Prev: | 2004 |
| Next: | 2012 |
Judo competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were held from August 9 to August 15 at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.
This was the fifth Olympics for Driulys González (Cuba), Mária Pekli (Australia), Ryoko Tamura-Tani (Japan). The only other judokas to compete at five Olympics are Robert Van de Walle (Belgium), the judoka-bobsledder Jorge Bonnet (Puerto Rico) and Telma Monteiro (Portugal).
| Extra-lightweight (60 kg) | |||
| Half-lightweight (66 kg) | |||
| Lightweight (73 kg) | |||
| Half-middleweight (81 kg) | |||
| Middleweight (90 kg) | |||
| Half-heavyweight (100 kg) | |||
| Heavyweight (+100 kg) | |||
| Extra-lightweight (48 kg) | |||
| Half-lightweight (52 kg) | |||
| Lightweight (57 kg) | |||
| Half-middleweight (63 kg) | |||
| Middleweight (70 kg) | |||
| Half-heavyweight (78 kg) | |||
| Heavyweight (+78 kg) | |||
See main article: Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification.
Together with 366 directly qualified athletes, there were 20 invitational places from a Tripartite Commission (genders and categories are yet to be decided), making up a total athlete quota of 386 athletes—217 men, 147 women and 22 places not yet allocated to a gender.
An NOC may enter up to one athlete per weight category. The qualifying places were allocated as follows:
| Event/Union | Date | Location | Men | Women | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 13–16, 2007 | 6 | 6 | 84 | |||
| May 2006 – May 2008 | — | 3 | 2 | 35 | ||
| Nov 2006 – Apr 2008 | — | 5 | 3 | 58 | ||
| Apr 2007 – Apr 2008 | — | 9 | 5 | 98 | ||
| Sep 2007 – Mar 2008 | — | 1 | 1 | 14 | ||
| Pan American Judo Union | May 2006 – May 2008 | — | 6 | 3 | 63 | |
| Host Nation (CHN) | — | — | 1 | 1 | 14 | |
| TOTAL | 31 | 21 | 366 | |||
Two additional places are awarded to this union, but gender and weight categories are to be defined.
If the host nation qualified athletes directly through the world championships or Asian continental qualification system, the reserved entry places were reallocated as part of the Asian continental qualification.
Continental qualification places were allocated through the ranking system based on the major tournaments on the continent (continental championships, qualification tournaments). More important tournaments and tournaments closer to the Olympics carried more points. Deadline for the unions to confirm the places was May 21, 2008.