OSAKA, 13 September 2003 — Argentina struck their first ever world or Olympic gold in judo here yesterday as South Korea and Germany joined the campaign to block Japan’s medal rampage. Daniela Krukower, 28, dumped Cuba’s former Olympic and world champion Driulis Gonzalez for a perfect “ippon” win in an all-Latin women’s light-middleweight final on day two of the four-day world championships.
Japan, who won three out of four titles on offer on Thursday, managed to win just one as Masae Ueno tripped down Cuban Regina Zulueta with a leg sweep to win her second straight world title in the women’s middleweight.
Krukower, who won this year’s British Open and the Pan American championship, battled back from two marginal points down and floored Gonzalez with a body drop three minutes into the under-63kg final, for her first world-class victory.
“All the people in Argentina believed in me all these years and I had a lot of support from them although the situation is not very good,” Krukower said with a huge smile.
Argentina’s only previous medal in the worlds or Olympics was a silver won by Carolina Mariani in the women’s under-52kg at the 1995 World Championships in Japan. Yesterday’s victory marks a highpoint in the life of Krukower, an aspiring massage therapist who came back to Argentina aged 24 after spending 17 years in Israel with her family, even completing military service there. “I decided to come back because of some confusion with the Israeli (judo) federation,” she said without elaborating.
South Korea’s up-and-coming Hwang Hee-Tae toppled defending champion Frederic Demontfaucon of France in his first under-90kg men’s middleweight match and defeated 2002 world silver medalist Zurab Zviadauri of Georgia in the final.
German Florian Wanner bowled over Japan’s gold medal hope and Asian Games champion Yoshihiro Akiyama for a comeback ippon finish with six seconds to go in an under-81kg men’s light-middleweight semifinal. The 25-year-old went on to beat European champion Sergei Aschwanden in the final for his first major victory.
“With 13 seconds left in the semifinal, I knew it was my last chance and I took the grip. I thought he didn’t like it,” Wanner said, remembering the twisting throw that crushed Akiyama’s medal dreams.
At the halfway mark, Japan stood with four golds, two each for men and women, and one each for Germany, China, South Korea and Argentina.
The 25-year-old Hwang, who won the German Open this year for his first international triumph, struggled back after Zviadauri scored on a near-perfect takedown throw but he hit back with a throw and pinned the Georgian for 25 seconds for a knockout win.
Japanese middleweight Yuta Tazaki, the Asian Games champion, was thrown down by Brazilian Carlos Honorato in the third round. “The run of victories in the previous day had put the pressure on him,” Japanese men’s coach Hitoshi Saito said.
Meanwhile, at 170 centimeters (5 foot 8), you can be the heavyweight judo champion of the world. That’s what judo is all about, said Japanese pocket hercules Yasuyuki Muneta, the Asian Games champion, who beat five towering opponents to win the over-100 kilogram title at the worlds.
“I have never thought that I cannot overcome my opponent just because I am short,” the 22-year-old Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department officer said yesterday, on the morning after his triumph.
“As the old adage goes, ‘the soft prevails over the hard.’ The beauty of judo is evident when a small person throws down a big person,” the baby-faced Muneta smiled. “I don’t think too much about my height because it won’t make me any taller.”
Muneta has become the eighth Japanese to win the Olympic or heavyweight title in the sport founded some 120 years ago by the late Jigoro Kano as a method of “turning an opponent’s strength against himself.”
But he may feel out of place in the hall of fame featuring such giants as Shinichi Shinohara, 190cm, who won both heavyweight and unlimited-weight titles in 1999, or legendary Yasuhiro Yamashita, 180cm, an earlier double champion in 1981.
Muneta, who weighs no more than 120 kg (264 pounds), relies on his muscle power. With his biceps measuring 60cm (24 inches) and his 30cm (12 inch) feet, he can bench-press 200 kg (440 pounds.)
The 1998 Student Games champion, who finished seventh in the open category at the 2001 championships in Munich, has also turned his shortcoming into one of his greatest strengths.
He often tackles low at the opponent’s body and dazzles with seoigage, or a shoulder throw. He did not use the spectacular throw as he came from behind in three of his five matches before lifting his first world championship medal.
He narrowly outpointed European champion Tamerlan Tmenov in the third round and, in the final, he beat Dennis Van Deer Geest by virtue of the Dutchman’s penality for a false attack with 24 seconds to go.
