Just as an observation judo itself is a style synthesised from jujutsu and in that origininal form was watered down so that it could be practisd as a form of self development by the general public at large.
Just a counter observation, then.
To begin with, I don't know that I'd say that Judo is a "style synthesized from Jujutsu", as it wasn't. It was a new system developed to express the ideals of Kano Jigoro, with the methods coming from a couple of Jujutsu systems, most notably Kito Ryu and Tenjin Shin'yo Ryu, rather than just "from Jujutsu". In a very real way, Judo is Jujutsu, just another form of it.
I also wouldn't necessarily say that it's "watered down"... but we'll cover that.
Its inclusion into the olympics has seen a dilution even further over the years to what you see practised today with many people unable to demonstrate the kata of the original form.
Firstly, the kata should be learnt by all the students of Judo, especially as they raise in rank (although it's typically only the more senior that pay it much attention, especially when dealing with things like the Koshiki no Kata), so they should all be able to do some of the kata. The Nage no Kata should be standard, for Olympic competitors or not. That said, I'm not sure what you're referring to as "the kata of the original form"... the Koshiki no Kata is pretty much a direct transplant from Kito Ryu, the Kime no Kata is still taught, as is the Nage no Kata... which don't you think was there in "the original form"?
Here is the Kito Ryu performing Koshiki no Kata:
Followed by modern Judoka performing the Koshiki no Kata:
And, for comparison, if we're talking "the original form", here's Kano Sensei demonstrating it....:
In this timeline It has gone from its parent art which was a form of combat to another form where it is used to improve the physical well being of the practioner (but still with self defence contained within its many forms eg: Kata) to the judo practised in the olympics where training is done for winning tournaments and not much else.
Well, was Kito Ryu still a "form of combat", looking at the clips above? Tenjin Shin'yo Ryu was also said to be less combative than it used to be by Kano's time (but, as with everything there, you need to know which line of the Ryu you were talking about...), to the degree that Kano was wanting to develop Judo to aid in physical fitness. He'd hardly have wanted to do that if such things were there for him in his previous arts...
Then again, Tenjin Shin'yo Ryu can be a lot of fun, and done pretty hard!
But when it all comes down to it, has Judo really been "watered down"? Honestly, I'd say no. What it has done is moved into it's own niche, finding and focusing on it's own specialities, which is focused on randori and shiai, as well as competitive usage. I personally don't think that that's "watering down", I think it's specializing. In order to get very good at one thing, other things need to go by the wayside, and when it comes to working within the changing ruleset of Judo competition as it's developed, that has lead to a higher degree of specialization, really.
(When i mention self defence here I mean as deliberate intent of the training involved on a day to day basis)
Hmm, I'm not sure I get what you meant there... can you expand on that?
