Lesley Jackson has been glued to the television in order to report the results of the Olympic Judo in Beijing. The mat has provided some highs and lows but has never failed to entertain as in this most international of events, it has been Japan who have earned the right to chant, ‘Judo’s coming home!’
The Olympic Judo tournament provided some gripping viewing in Beijing’s Science and Technology gymnasium with some intense battles fought and some surprising results. Overall Japan, the motherland of Judo, provided most of the gold medals with some of the fastest results in the finals using strong and skilful throws. The competition opened on Saturday 8 August with Judo’s first shock in the women’s lightweight -48Kg division with Japan’s longstanding heroine, Ryoko Tani going out in the semi-finals.
Cuba’s dominance of Women’s Judo seems to have been given a severe run for its money as they did not win a gold medal, the last being in Syndey 2000; so it was a clutch of silvers and bronzes for the huge Cuban coach Renaldo. - Lesley Jackson
The tiny multiple Olympic medallist was defeated in a controversial penalty decision against her when fighting Romania’s Dumitru, who later went on to win gold in the final. However Tani won the bronze after crushing her Russian opponent with an ippon within minutes of the five minute round starting. Japan was provided with four gold medals with the Men’s -66Kg Uchishiba’s ippon in 80 seconds, the Women’s -63Kg Gold with Tanimoto’s almost identical win by ippon in 80 seconds, Ueno’s Women’s -70Kg Gold winning by ippon in 46 seconds and in the final match of the tournament, 21 year old Ishii’s gold in the men’s +100Kg in his first Olympic appearance. Japan really was the class act to see as they were mercilessly flipping their opponents on their backs like burgers for a knockout ippon score stacking up an impressive collection of gold medals.
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Medal Winners
Europe provided several champions with Germany’s Ole Bischof in the Men’s -81Kg winning gold in a solid performance against Kim of South Korea, using skilful defensive work and eventually winning with a yuko. One of the most interesting men’s competitions had to be the -90Kg division, albeit not entirely for the purpose of Judo. Due to the current situation between neighbouring countries Russia and Georgia, you couldn’t help but put your hand over your mouth as one of the semi-finals was between Georgia’s Tsirekidze and a Russian. Fortunately, the match was conducted with good nature but you couldn’t help rooting for Tsirekidze as he later went onto win gold by a narrow kuko score as we also discovered that since arriving in Beijing his home town in Georgia had been occupied by the Russians. One couldn’t say the same for the men’s -100Kg competition as the judoka from Kazakhstan eyeballed his Mongolian opponent for the gold, Naidan, who remained totally nonchalant as he then wiped the glare from the Kazakhstani’s eyes by winning Mongolia’s first judo gold medal with a beautiful wasi-ari.
Cuba’s dominance of Women’s Judo seems to have been given a severe run for its money as they did not win a gold medal, the last being in Syndey 2000; so it was a clutch of silvers and bronzes for the huge Cuban coach Renaldo. Italy will have been delighted with their Women’s -57Kg gold with Giulia Quintavalle wining Italy’s first ever Olympic Judo title with the Dutch team showing their metal by also winning several silver and bronze medals. However, as well as the Japanese ladies, it was the Chinese who also conquered gold medals as Xian won in the -52Kg and Yang won in a decision after a gruelling 10 minutes when the gold medal was flagged in her favour against her Cuban opponent, Castillo. But it was the final of the +78Kg that provided a thriller with a clash of the titans as the 20 stone ladies, China’s Tong Wen and Japan’s Tsukada, fought it out until the last few seconds when Tong clinched the gold with an ippon.
Team GB
It was a disappointing tournament for the British team with no Judo medals coming home in 2008. Sorrow abounded for Winston Gordon in the Men’s -90Kg competition as he went out in the first round against his Uzbekistani opponent when he went for a throw and lost the gamble when a wasi-ari was scored against him. Sarah Clark had a short Olympic appearance of 50 seconds in the Women’s -63 Kg when she was thrown for an ippon by the Austrian, who was also a the silver medallist in Athens four years earlier. Karina Bryant, who had to work hard to put on weight to be competitive in the +78Kg division, was defeated by the 20 stone Mexican in the first round. Peter Cousins counted himself lucky to be in Beijing at all after some dispute over a missed doping test, which was overturned after the British Judo Association appealed to the British Olympic Association. He was however, defeated by his Georgian opponent in the first round when it went into extra time and a golden score situation. The bandaged Cousins managed to equalise at the end of five minutes but the Georgian bode his time and sneaked a yuko to clinch the exhausting match.
Taekwondo Roundup from Beijing Olympics 2008
Lesley Jackson’s eyes nearly popped out when she tuned into the Olympic taekwondo. What she thought would be four days of static bouncing and unnecessary shouting turned into a technical foot fest and a final day with more high drama than a night at the opera.
Craig Fallon (-60 KG) and Euan Burton (-81 Kg) progressed further with their Olympic campaigns but were both frustratingly thwarted from winning bronze medals. Fallon fought all the way through to the repechage semi-final, picking up a nasty cut above his left eye on the way. Israel’s Yekutiel beat Fallon with two wasi-ari’s thus ending Fallon’s campaign for a bronze. Euan Burton suffered a similar fate as he was beaten in the repechage final for bronze by current world title holder, Brazil’s Camilo, in a fiercely fought battle for grip. The British team will have their work cut out if they are hoping to win medals in London 2012, a fact of which they are sure to be aware of.
Lesley Jackson has been glued to the television in order to report the results of the Olympic 
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