Christa Deguchi
Canada's first world and Olympic judo champion
- Born
- October 29, 1995, Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
- Nationality
Canada
Japan- Height
- 160 cm (5′3″)
- Stance
- Right
- Style
- Attacking grab-and-go thrower
- Weight
- 57 kg
- Active
- 2013–2024
- Status
- Retired · age 30
The medals
2024 Olympic gold, 2 world titles
The story
hrista Deguchi was born in Matsumoto, Japan, to a Japanese mother and a Canadian father, and started judo at three. She came up through the Japanese system and won a Grand Prix for Japan in 2013, but after years of approaches from Judo Canada she switched to her father's country and first fought for Canada in 2017. In 2018 she became the first Canadian woman to win a world championship medal, and a year later she scored with ura-nage against Japan's Tsukasa Yoshida in Tokyo to become Canada's first world judo champion. The race with teammate Jessica Klimkait for a single Olympic spot cost her Tokyo 2020, but she won a second world title in 2023 and, in Paris in 2024, beat Huh Mi-mi in golden score for Canada's first Olympic judo gold. She retired in March 2026.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion, 57 kg (2024), Canada's first Olympic judo gold
- World champion, 57 kg (2019, 2023)
- Commonwealth Games champion, 57 kg (2022)
- Pan American champion, 57 kg (2018, 2019, 2023)
- Judo Canada senior athlete of the year (2023–24)
Defining matches
- 2018WINvs Tsukasa Yoshida (Paris Grand Slam final, ippon)
- 2019WINvs Tsukasa Yoshida (World final, Tokyo, waza-ari with ura-nage)
- 2023WINvs Haruka Funakubo (World final, Doha, ippon)
- 2024LOSSvs Huh Mi-mi (World final, Abu Dhabi, golden score)
- 2024WINvs Huh Mi-mi (Paris Olympic final, golden score, third penalty to Huh)
Drill grab-and-go entries: take your grip and attack in the same movement, before your partner can settle theirs, the way Deguchi threw Haruka Funakubo twice in the 2023 world final. Make every attack a real one, too; her Olympic final was decided when her opponent got a third penalty for a false attack.
