Why are there two bronze medals in judo?

The system used at the Olympic Games, World Championships and the main IJF tour events is the quarter-final repechage:

• The athletes are drawn into two halves of a bracket. Each half produces one finalist, and the two fight for gold.
• The four losing quarter-finalists fight two repechage contests.
• Each repechage winner meets the losing semi-finalist from the opposite half for a bronze medal.
• The two winners of those contests are third. The two losers are fifth. The two repechage losers are seventh.
• An athlete beaten before the quarter-finals is out.

Other systems the rules allow:

• Double repechage: everyone who lost to one of the four semi-finalists enters the repechage.
• Full repechage: every beaten athlete gets a second contest.
• Direct knockout: no repechage. The two losing semi-finalists both take bronze.
• Round robin: everyone fights everyone.

Small entries:

• With five or fewer athletes, the format changes and only one bronze medal is awarded. With two, there is a single final. With one, there is no competition.

Also:

• The athlete drawn on the top line wears white and the one below wears blue.
• An athlete who does not appear for a contest is out and cannot come back for a later one.
• A competition day usually has two sessions: the preliminaries and the final block.

A draw can pair two of the best athletes early. The repechage means losing to a strong opponent in the quarter-final does not end all chance of a medal, and the cross-over with the semi-final losers is what produces two bronze contests.