BEIJING: Seven-time world champion Ryoko Tani failed in her bid for a third Olympic gold medal yesterday as Japan’s campaign to restore their pride in judo stalled on the first day of action here. She lost to four-time European champion Alina Dumitru after receiving a third caution from the referee, one more than the Romanian, in a lackluster women’s -48kg semifinal in which the pair failed to score any points.
Dumitru, who lost to Tani in the semifinals at the 2007 world championships, went on to claim her first ever global gold medal as she threw Cuba’s Yanet Bermoy for ippon (the maximum score) with a perfect osoto-gari (outer leg sweep).
In the men’s -60kg final, South Korea’s 2003 world champion Choi Min-ho defeated European champion Ludwig Paischer of Austria with a brilliant te-guruma (leg-grab pick-up) for the maximum ippon.
Tani, 32, fought through the repechage consolation round for losers to win a bronze by downing Russian Liudmila Bogdanova with a spectacular hip throw for an ippon.
“I am proud to have competed in five straight Olympics,” Tani told reporters. “The contest has just ended and I am not sure what I would do.
I will consult people around me about that.” Tani won the silver at the 1992 Barcelona Games after losing in the final to France’s Cecile Nowak when women’s judo made its full debut as an Olympic sport.
WShe also lost to North Korea’s Kye Sun-Hui in the 1996 final before striking gold in Sydney and Athens.
Her semifinal defeat was more than a little contentious as she collected one more caution than Dumitru for passivity when it was clear that neither fighter was being any more, or more to the point, less aggressive than the other. She said she had nothing to say about the referee’s crucial third caution, when Dumitru escaped punishment, giving her Romanian opponent the advantage. “There is nothing I can do about the referee’s decision and I would accept it as it is.” Tani’s compatriot Hiroaki Hiraoka, who beat record three-time Olympic champion Tadahiro Nomura at the national trials to earn a berth here, bowed out in the men’s -60kg first round when he lost to American newcomer Taraje Williams-Murray. Japan won a record eight golds in Athens, including five from the women’s contests, but their medal haul was down to just three at last year’s world championships.
