Japan brought the curtain down on the most successful Olympic judo campaign in their history here yesterday by sweeping the men’s and women’s heavyweight titles by knockout.
World open-weight champion Keiji Suzuki floored Russian Tamerian Timenov by ippon in the men’s over-100kg final, making up for compatriot rival Kosei Inoue’s shocking defeat in a lighter division on the previous day.
World silver medalist Maki Tsukada immobilized Sydney Olympic silver medalist Dayma Beltran of Cuba in the women’s over-78kg final on the final day of the week-long judo competition at the Athens Games. Japan, which gave the combat sport to the world, finished the competition with a record eight gold medals, against one each for Belarus, China, Georgia, Germany, Greece and South Korea.
Japan’s previous best judo title haul was four at the 2000 Sydney Games as well as at the 1984 Los Angeles Games when only the men’s competition was held. Suzuki, a 24-year-old Olympic newcomer, tripped down the Russian, whom he had never fought before, with a leg throw which stopped the fight 77 seconds into a scheduled five-minute final.
As a result, he brought the prestigious heavyweight title back to Japan for the first time in 16 years — since Hitoshi Saito triumphed at the 1988 Seoul Games.
In the women’s final, Beltran threw down Tsukada in the second minute for a half point and continued an attempt to pin her down. But 22-year-old Tsukada turned the tables on the Cuban and immobilized her for 25 seconds to win her first global title.
Beltran beat world champion and 1996 Atlanta Olympic gold medalist Sun Fuming in the semifinals, denying China a fourth straight heavyweight title since the women’s game made its official Olympic debut in 1992.
Sun fought through a consolation repechage round to claim a bronze. The other women’s bronze went to Russian Tea Donguzashvili.
Dennis van Der Geest of the Netherlands and Estonia’s Indrek Pertelson won the men’s bronze medals.
S. Korean Women Win 11th Straight Gold
South Korea’s all-conquering women archers won their 11th straight Olympic gold medal on Friday but it took a bull’s-eye on the final arrow to beat China in the Athens teams event final. In a 27-arrow shootout, individual gold medalist Park Sung-hyun fired maximum 10-point score with the last shot to clinch the title 241-240. Taiwan took the bronze medal after beating France by 14 points in a shootout for third place.
Hoy Gives Britain Gold and Games Record
Chris Hoy gave Britain its first cycling medal of the Athens Olympics on Friday when he won the 1-km time trial in a new Games record.
Hoy, a silver medalist in the sprint event in Sydney, completed the four laps of the velodrome in one minute 00.711 seconds, eclipsing the old Olympic record set by his team mate Jason Queally in Sydney.
Frenchman Arnaud Tournant, four times a time trial world champion on the track, took silver in 1:00.896 while Germany’s Stefan Nimke took bronze in 1:01.186.
Younger Australian Sister Wins Gold
Australia’s Anna Meares set a new world record to win the women’s Olympic 500-meter cycling time trial yesterday in a race she might well have missed had it not been for an injury to her older sister.
Meares’ sister Kerrie had been favorite to take Australia’s berth in the race but complications arising from a fall she had in Russia two years ago meant she had to have surgery which ruled her out of the Athens Games.
China’s Jiang Yonghua, who had set the previous world best of 34.000 seconds, took the silver medal in 34.112 while Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus, three times a time trial world champion, won bronze in 34.167.
Meares’ gold in a packed velodrome came just four months after she won the world championship in Melbourne.
Dogonadze Wins Women’s Trampoline Gold
Anna Dogonadze of Germany won the Olympic women’s trampoline gold medal yesterday, scoring 39.80 points. Reigning world champion Karen Cockburn of Canada won the silver with 39.20 points and China’s Huang Shanshan took the bronze with 39.00 points.
Dogonadze, the 2001 world champion, was third in last year’s world finals before home nation fans in Hannover.
Cockburn was a bronze medalist at Sydney, the only women’s medal winner from the sport’s 2000 Olympic debut to compete here.
