Defending champion Ayumi Tanimoto successfully defended her Olympic title Tuesday evening and German Ole Bischof won his first gold in judo after stunning world champion Brazilian Tiago Camilo.
Tanimoto, who had not won any international title after 2004, scored ippon in all four bouts she played in the competition in which she showed off her pinning technique to win three games.
The Japanese shoulder-threw her French rival Lucie Decosse to the tatami in one minute and 26 seconds. The sudden loss made Decosse motionless when kneeling down after the referee gave the ippon gesture.
"It is a surprise for me to enter the final and win the gold medal again," said Tanimoto who lost to the French judoka in world championships 2005. "I can't find a word to describe my feelings for the moment since I am very happy."
"Tanimoto and I have been regarded as the two bests in the category and she played better than me," said Decosse who was called "Lucie, Go, Lucie" by her supporters in the stands.
"We knew each other's skills very well and it was me who often beat her before. That is why I was dazed by the defeat for a while on the mat," said Decosse who is just two days younger than Tanimoto.
"I can't regain the title only by effort of myself," said Tanimoto who contributed the all-ippon victory to her master at the Athens Games who told her that ippon is the core charm of judo and the only key to win the champion.
The Japanese coach said Tanimoto deserved the gold medal for her hard training and a steady performance in the competition.
Decosse, world silver medalist last year, ousted Olympic bronze medalist Claudia Heill of Austria in the first bout to clear the way to the final.
"This is my last competition in 63kg category," she said. "I will upgrade to 70kg class for the next Olympic Games."
The bronze medals were shared by Driulis Gonzalez and Ok Im Won from DPR Korea whose world rank was unavailable for rare appearence in international competition.
The Cuban veteran, 35, who had won three Olympic medals, was golden scored with a koka in overtime by Elisabeth Willeboordse of the Netherlands in the bronze medal competition.
China's Xu Yuhua was outscored by South Korean Ja-Young Kong at her Olympic debut. The 25-year-old Xu made active attacks to the South Korean rival, leading a yuko and a koka. But Xu performed too cautiously in the rest of the time to keep the advantage. She was penaltied for three times for being negative which surrendered a waza-ari loss.
In the men's competition, Ole Bischof from Germany outscored South Korean Kim Jaebum in the final of 81kg-class to win his first Olympic title.
Bischof, 28, managed the only score of yuko to defeat Kim in the five-minute bout that the two had cautiously played. His success also became the second gold medal for Germany at the Games.
"Every game I played today was tough," the German judoka who ranked ninth this year said. "I think the most difficult one was the quarterfinal with Tiago."
Nyamkhuu Damdinsuren of Mongolia seesawed with Roman Gontiuk from Ukraine in the other bronze medal match, both making a waza-ari in the bout. Gontiuk upset Damdinsuren who nearly won the first medal for Mongolia with a yuko later.
The other bronze medal was competed by two world champions, Camilo in 2007, and Elmont in 2005. Camilo won by an ippon.
"This medal doesn't have a color for me. It is as good as gold one." the Brazilian said. "In the toughest moment I fought for the 180 million Brazilian people."
China's Guo Lei was outscored by Montenegro's Srdjan Mrvaljevic after he ipponed Fiderd Vis from Aruba in the first round.
Guo's victory in his Olympic debut also ended the Games tour of Caribbean resort island belonging to the Netherlands who sent only one athlete to the Beijing Olympic Games.
Source:Xinhua
