Judo at the 1988 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: Seoul, South Korea
Venue(s): Jangchung Gymnastium, Seoul
Date Started: September 27, 1988
Date Finished: September 27, 1988
Format: Two single-elimination pools, with winner of each pool advanced to the final. All judoka losing to the winner of each pool advanced to repêchage pools, with the winners of the repêchage pools earning bronze medals.
| Gold: | Marc Alexandre |
| Silver: | Sven Loll |
| Bronze: | Mike Swain Giorgi Tenadze |
The lightweight class was wide-open. At least six fighters were felt capable of winning the gold medal. These included the reigning World Champion, American Mike Swain; the 1987 World runner-up, Marc Alexandre (FRA), also the 1984 half-lightweight bronze medalist; Toshihiko Koga, the All-Japan Champion; and Britain’s Kerrith Brown, bronze medalist at the 1987 Worlds. In the pool semis, Swain met East German Sven Loll. Swain led early, but Loll eliminated him with a late yuko. Loll went to the final where he met Alexandre. Both were uchimata specialists, but neither could score with it. Alexandre won gold with a late koka from kouchi-gari. In one of the bronze medal matches, Brown defeated Swain with a koka from a side-sacrifice throw at 3½ minutes. But the medals were not yet decided. Two days later, Brown was disqualified for doping, testing positive for furosemide (Lasix), a diuretic. The bronze medal was given to Swain, joined by Soviet Georgian Giorgi Tenadze.
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Alexandre | 28 | France | FRA | Gold | |
| 2 | Sven Loll | 24 | East Germany | GDR | Silver | |
| 3T | Mike Swain | 27 | United States | USA | Bronze | |
| 3T | Giorgi Tenadze | 26 | Soviet Union | URS | Bronze | |
| 5T | Bertalan Hajtós | 22 | Hungary | HUN | ||
| 5T | Steffen Stranz | 28 | West Germany | FRG | ||
| 7T | Joaquín Ruiz | 29 | Spain | ESP | ||
| 7T | Johannes Wohlwend | 23 | Liechtenstein | LIE | ||
| 9T | Lotuala N'Dombassy | 24 | Angola | ANG | ||
| 9T | Ousmane Camara | 24 | Mali | MLI | ||
| 11T | Anders Dahlin | 23 | Sweden | SWE | ||
| 11T | Stewart Brain | 26 | Australia | AUS | ||
| 13T | Luiz Onmura | 28 | Brazil | BRA | ||
| 13T | Hugo d'Assunção | 29 | Portugal | POR | ||
| 13T | Federico Vizcarra | 23 | Mexico | MEX | ||
| 13T | Glenn Beauchamp | 26 | Canada | CAN | ||
| 13T | Toshihiko Koga | 20 | Japan | JPN | ||
| 13T | Ezio Gamba | 29 | Italy | ITA | ||
| 19T | Wiesław Błach | 26 | Poland | POL | ||
| 19T | Abdelhak Maach | Morocco | MAR | |||
| 19T | Eugene McManus | 26 | Ireland | IRL | ||
| 19T | Henry Núñez | 19 | Costa Rica | CRC | ||
| 19T | Angelo Ruiz | 30 | Puerto Rico | PUR | ||
| 19T | Daniel Dohou Dossou | 28 | Benin | BEN | ||
| 19T | Mohamed Moslih | 21 | North Yemen | YAR | ||
| 19T | Nelson Ombito | 24 | Kenya | KEN | ||
| 19T | Ju Hsiang-Hung | 21 | Chinese Taipei | TPE | ||
| 19T | Xiong Fengshan | 24 | China | CHN | ||
| 19T | Alpaslan Ayan | 22 | Turkey | TUR | ||
| 19T | Mohamed Meridja | 27 | Algeria | ALG | ||
| 19T | Ganga Bahadur Dangol | Nepal | NEP | |||
| 19T | Park Jeong-Hui | 21 | South Korea | KOR | ||
| 33T | Chong Siao Chin | 31 | Hong Kong | HKG | ||
| 33T | Babacar Dione | 26 | Senegal | SEN | ||
| 33T | James Sibenge | 22 | Zimbabwe | ZIM | ||
| 33T | Jambalyn Ganbold | 29 | Mongolia | MGL | ||
| 33T | Rony Khawam | 24 | Lebanon | LIB | ||
| 33T | Adel Al-Najadah | 22 | Kuwait | KUW | ||
| 33T | Fredy Torres | 26 | El Salvador | ESA | ||
| 33T | Jason Trevisan | 21 | Malta | MLT | ||
| AC | Kerrith Brown | 26 | Great Britain | GBR | DQ |