Held on November 29 and 30 in New York City in 1980, the inaugural event was the first of four women-only World Championships.

The men's and women's events were later unified in 1987, with the first taking place in Essen in what was then West Germany.

The webinars will discuss the impact the first Women's World Judo Championship had on the sport and pay tribute to the pioneers who made it possible.

Chief among them was Rena "Rusty" Kanokogi, who famously won a New York judo title in 1959 while disguised as a man.

In 1962, Kanokogi became the first woman to train with the men's group at the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo.

Kanokogi later mortgaged her home to put on the first Women's World Judo Championships in 1980, and was credited with being a driving force behind women's judo's inclusion as a demonstration sport at the Seoul 1988 Olympics.

It has been on the medal programme at every edition of the Summer Games since.

Kanokogi's daughter, Jean, will be on the panel for both discussions alongside a number of athletes who competed at the first Women's World Judo Championships.

Panellists will be given two to three minutes to introduce themselves, before a question-and-answer session takes place.

Day one will feature inaugural world champions Jane Bridge of Britain, The Netherlands' Anita Staps and Italy's Margherita De Cal.

More world champions from 1980 will speak on day two; France's Jocelyn Triadou and Belgium's Ingrid Berghmans.

The sessions will be streamed for free on YouTube, while there is a limit of 100 places available on Zoom.

They are scheduled for 6pm CET today and 11am CET tomorrow.

In the run-up to the anniversary, the IJF has published a series of articles on women's judo pioneers and the first Women's World Judo Championships on its website.