Joshua Katz (born 29 December 1997) is an Australian Olympic judoka, who competes at −60kg. He has won 11 Oceania titles and 12 Australian titles as of February 2024. He also won the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medal and the 2023 Pan American-Oceania Judo Championships silver medal.
Katz was born on 29 December 1997[2] in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, Australia, to a Jewish family.[3][4] Katz's mother is former judoka Kerrye Katz, who competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics, when judo was a demonstration event for women, and came in seventh; she also won the 1985 Oceania Judo Championship in U66k and 11 Australian national championships.[5][6] His father Robert was a judoka on the Australian national team and a national judo coach for Australia at both the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics.[7][8][9] His older brother, Nathan Katz, also competed for Australia in judo at the Rio Olympics.[10] The two brothers have been training partners since they were children.[3]
His high school was William Clarke College, in Kellyville.[4] Katz studied sports and exercise science and sports management at the University of Canberra and has attended La Trobe University, studying for a Bachelor of Exercise Science.[11][12][13] He also lived in Northmead, New South Wales, and moved to Melbourne in 2022 to train at the newly opened national training centre.[14][15] He is 167 cm (5 ft 6 in) tall and weighs 60 kg (132 lb).[16]
Katz's judo club is the Budokan Judo Club, in Castle Hill, New South Wales, and his coach is his brother Nathan Katz.[4][17] He had won 11 Oceania titles and 12 Australian titles as of February 2024.[17] He also won the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medal and the 2023 Pan American-Oceania Judo Championships silver medal.[17]
Katz won the 2013 and 2014 Australian junior national judo championships and the 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 Australian National Judo Championships.[4] He also won the 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Junior Oceania Judo Championships.[4] He won the 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 senior Oceania Judo Championships.[4][2] He also was named the 2010 New South Wales Junior Boy of the Year and received the 2010 Hills Shire Times Young Achiever Award.[15]
Katz competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the men's 60 kg event at 18 years of age, months after he finished high school.[18] He was eliminated in the second round by Diyorbek Urozboev of Uzbekistan, who went on to win the bronze medal, and came in 17th in the tournament.[16][4][19][20] He was Australia’s youngest-ever male judoka to compete at an Olympic Games, and was also the youngest judoka from any nation at those Games.[11][4][17] He and his brother Nathan became the first brothers to compete in judo for Australia at the same Olympic Games.[4][17] Competing at Rio, Katz suffered torn shoulder ligaments.[21]
Katz won the 2017 Canberra Junior ACT Cup.[22] He won the gold medal in the 2018 Perth Oceania Open, won a silver medal in the 2018 Hong Kong Asian Open, and won a bronze medal in the 2018 Malaga Senior European Cup.[22]
In 2021, Katz did not make the Australian Olympic team for the Tokyo Olympic Games, because he was injured.[23][24] He then broke his leg in September 2022, and also had shoulder surgery in 2022.[23][25]
Competing in judo at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the men's 60 kg in Birmingham, England, in August, he won a bronze medal, after not having competed for six months due to injuries.[4][26] In 2022 he also won the Australian national championship, a bronze medal at the European Open in February in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; a silver medal at the European Open in February in Warsaw, Poland, and a bronze medal at the 2022 Pan American-Oceania Judo Championships in April in Lima, Peru.[4][22] In November 2022, in a competition he suffered elbow ligament and tendon damage, necessitating surgery, and ending his season.[27]
Katz had a second shoulder surgery in March 2023.[23][25] In September 2023, competing in the 2023 Pan American-Oceania Judo Championships in Calgary, Canada, he won a silver medal.[22][4]
In January 2024, Katz suffered a completely ruptured ACL in his knee.[25][23][28]
At the April 2024 Pan American and Oceania Championships he returned to competition, and came in fifth.[4][25] On 8 June 2024, winning a silver medal at the 2024 Abidjan African Open in the Ivory Coast, he qualified for the 2024 Olympics.[25][24][22]
In July 2024 he competed again in the 2024 Paris Olympics at Men's 60 kg and was defeated in the first round, 1–0.[4][22]