BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- 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.
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Ole Bischof of Germany in blue competes during the men's 81 kg final of Judo against Kim Jaebum of South Korea in white at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. Ole Bischof of Germany won the gold medal in the event. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>> |
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.