Dan (rank) is by far the most recognizable symbol to the general public. The highest dan ranks are sometimes reserved for the founder or leaders of a style and only high-ranking students can be promoted to them. For example, only five living people hold a tenth dan in judo and only about thirty-five worldwide have been promoted to the rank since its inception; of those 10th dan promotions only fifteen were conferred by the Kodokan, all of them to Japanese judoka. This has led to upper level ranks becoming extinct in some arts. In other styles, the dan ranks are not the
Judo in Canada Judo Championships. Canada's greatest success in international competition, however, has been at the Pan American Games, with a total of 76 medals ranging from gold to bronze awarded since 1967 (see '' for lists of the results). Judo is also practised by visually impaired athletes, and became a Paralympic sport in 1988 for men and 2004 for women. While often referred to as 'blind judo', it includes athletes with three different levels of visual impairment, all of whom may compete against one another so long as they are in the same weight category. The only differences between Olympic and Paralympic