BEIJING: Reigning champion Ayumi Tanimoto of Japan produced a moment of magic in the women’s judo -63kg final to retain her Olympic crown yesterday.
Germany’s Ole Bischof was the surprise winner of the men’s -81kg category as the 2005 European champion beat top Asian Kim Jae Bum in the final.
Tanimoto countered a foot sweep attack from Frenchwoman Lucie Decosse with a stunning uchi-mata (inner thigh throw) to score the maximum ippon and give judo’s founding country a much welcome boost.
The normally dominant Japanese had been struggling in these Games until now with just one gold and two bronzes to show from the first three days of competition but Tanimoto did not let them down. Until the final it had been her brilliant ground fighting that made the difference as she pinned her first three opponents, including world champion Driulis Gonzalez of Cuba in the semifinal. Tanimoto also exacted a measure of revenge having lost to Decosse in the final of the 2005 World Championships in Cairo. In fact she has three World Championship medals but has never scaled the top podium step.
Gonzalez was going for a fifth Olympic medal, hoping to equal the feat achieved by Japanese legend Ryoko Tani on Saturday when she won bronze in the -48kg division.
However, the Cuban narrowly missed out as she lost to Elisabeth Willeboordse of the Netherlands by a single penalty deep into golden score (extra-time).
It almost certainly signaled the end of Gonzalez’s career as she will turn 35 next month. She was Olympic champion back in 1996 in Atlanta at a lower weight division and is also a three-time world champion.
Decosse was in fine form early on, dispatching the dangerous Urska Zolnir of Slovenia with an armlock and after a battle to get past Israeli Alice Schlesinger in the second round, she threw Germany’s Anna von Harnier for ippon with a delightful uchi-mata.
She then dominated North Korean surprise Won Ok Im in the semifinal before she was stunned by Tanimoto.
Won continued her country’s progress in the sport by winning their third judo medal of these Games, beating the silver medalist from Athens Claudia Heill of Austria for the second bronze.
World champion Tiago Camilo of Brazil had looked the class act in the men’s tournament until he came up against Bischof in the quarterfinals.
But he couldn’t repeat the form that saw him past Japan’s Takashi Ono and powerful Iranian Malek Mohammadi as the German nullified his strengths.
Bischof then beat Athens runner-up Roman Gontyuk of Ukraine to reach the final.
Kim left it late to qualify for the title-bout, securing a winning hold on 2005 world champion Guillaume Elmont of the Netherlands with just five seconds remaining of the extra five-minute golden score period in the semis.
Gontyuk beat Mongolia’s Damdinsuren Nyamkhuu for bronze while Camilo defeated Elmont in a battle of the world champions for the final gong.
