BJJ an olympic sport?

[kidhurt3]

I was wondering if they would ever make BJJ an olympic sport? I think it would be pretty neat. Both Gi and No gi. Weight classes and everything. It would just be like an other BJJ tournament. point and all same rules. Let me hear your thoughts.

[kidhurt3]

p.s. typo its not an other it was suppose to be any other sorry.

[Andrew Green]

Everybody wants there sport in the Olympics... I'd say the odds for BJJ would be pretty low.

Truthfully I'd put the odds of getting submission wrestling above BJJ, or maybe Pankration. Both those where there in the old greek days. But with the jacket, I don't see it. Not as good of a spectator sport, Judo guys can correct me but I believe the reduction of ground fighting came from that.

But long before that can happen there needs to be a unified and self-regulated organization, then it needs to join the national sports association (Sports Canada up here, not sure what yours is called)

That right there is going to be hard, martial arts doesn't do Unity well...

[Aaron T Fields]

Not going to happen, to many grappling sports already that draw small crowds when comparing them with the other sports. BJJ is too judo-esque and non-dogi grappling is covered in greco and freetsyle wrestling. Don't get me wrong I wish it could be included. To be honest Sombo is more likley than BJJ or sub wrestling as it is the third type of wrestling governed by FIAS. But again, too judo-esque.

Aaron Fields
www.seattle-jujutsu.org

[Erik]

What would be more likely to happen would be for Judo to start including more ground work as well instead of the usual 10 seconds to pull guard or turtle up.

Unfortunately, to appeal to as many people as the Olympics must, in order to keep attracting crowds, they'll still need to make the competition rules in such a way that the audience can watch and enjoy. 20 minutes of guard passing is not a crowd pleaser, no matter how important it is for real grappling, unfortunately.

[John Lucas]

Maybe MMA...in the distant distant future.

[Mikey Triangles]

What are the rules like for Judo in the Olympics?

Couldn't a BJJ practicioner compete in Judo?

[Erik]

If the BJJ guy is practicing his throw offense, defense, and his very quick attacks on the ground (like 10 seconds fast), then yes, s/he'll do fine. Actually, then it will technically be Judo, not BJJ.

In Olympic Judo they don't get much time to do groundwork and they can win with a perfect throw (an "ippon"). In BJJ the throw is just a takedown and you've still got to finish the match.

[Tony Dismukes]

Couldn't a BJJ practicioner compete in Judo?

A good BJJ practitioner could do okay in lower level judo competition, but not at the Olympic level. There are two problems - 1) time spent on ground work is severely limited and 2) one good clean takedown ends the match with ippon before the goundwork even starts (groundwork only occurs if the takedown is less than clean). Also, I believe that pulling guard may be disallowed, but I'm not sure. Plus, if the player on top stands up in the guard, the ref stops the groundwork and you start up standing again. All these factors pretty much neutralize the BJJ advantage in ground work. If a BJJ practitioner worked his gi takedowns well enough to be competitive at the Olympic judo level - well then, he'd be doing judo.