National Sports Are Now International

Judo comes from Japan, but Japan didn’t get the gold medal in the mixed-team judo event. It went to the French team. That’s not so surprising. There are four times as many people doing judo in France as in Japan now. Fencing is a European sport with roots in Italy and France, but the Japan men’s team beat the Italian men’s team and won the gold medal in the men’s fencing foil. They also got the silver medal in the men’s epee. Sports are no longer national. They have become international, and that is probably because of the Olympics. Fencing has been an Olympic sport for more than 100 years, and judo became an Olympic sport in 1964 when Tokyo had its first Olympics. (124 words)