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Friday, September 22
Douillet returns to retain Olympic crown
Reuters
SYDNEY, Australia -- France's David Douillet,
battling back from injury, sensationally retained his Olympic
men's heavyweight judo title at the Sydney Games on Friday.
Douillet was fighting in only his third competition in the
past three years because of a long-standing back complaint.
In the final, he beat world champion Shinichi Shinohara of
Japan amid furious protests from the Japanese camp.
Bronze medals went to two Europeans, Tamerlan Tmenov of
Russia and Indrek Pertelson of Estonia.
In the women's heavyweight final, a tactical affair between
Chinese world silver medalist Yuan Hua and Cuban double
open-weight world champion Daima Beltran, saw Yuan emerge
victorious on a unanimous judges' decision.
Japanese head coach Yasuhiro Yamashita, an Olympic champion
himself in 1984 in Los Angeles, led the protests over
Shinohara's defeat.
Yamashita was furious that Shinohara was not awarded a
perfect ippon score early in the final when Douillet was
awarded a small score that proved decisive.
The dispute arose from a throw that Douillet began before
over-rotating and landing on his back as both fighters fell to
the mat.
Shinohara had not actually instigated the technique and,
although one judge raised his arm to indicate an ippon for
Shinohara, he was overruled by the other two and the score went
Douillet's way.
The Frenchman's participation at the Olympics was not even
confirmed until August when he completed a full tournament
without aggravating his back injury.
Health concerns
Despite being the reigning champion and a four times World
champion, many doubts were cast about his fitness and
condition. But Douillet brushed them all aside with a majestic
performance to set up the perfect retirement party.
He announced long ago his intention to retire after the
Olympics and he bowed out in the best possible way with a
second title and a third medal, equaling the record set by his
countryman, Angelo Parisi, in the early eighties.
"I've come back a long way these last three years," said
Douillet.
"I have mixed emotions about today. Obviously I am happy
because I won the gold medal. But I am also sad because I have
had to turn this page in the book. This chapter has taken up
half my life and now it has come to an end."
During the news conference, Douillet was called on his
mobile phone by both French President Jaques Chirac and Prime
Minister Lionel Jospin.
But while Douillet felt on top of the world, Shinohara was
inconsolable and cried throughout the medal ceremony.
Yamashita was adament that his fighter had won the contest.
"This was a big mistake...the fight has clearly been
misjudged," he said.
The women's heavyweight face-off pitted two fighters who
had dominated their pools on the way to the final and looked a
class apart from the competition.
Yuan and Beltran struggled in vain to turn each other onto
their backs, managing only a few nonscoring knockdowns.
Yuan was the more positive and her superior fitness and
speed ensured she was usually first to the attack. Although
they were both penalized for passivity toward the end of the
bout, Yuan's victory was rarely in doubt.
World champion Beata Maksymow of Poland suffered a surprise
second-round defeat to American Colleen Rosensteel in a rare
upset in the women's division.
The American then lost in the next round, so the world
champion didn't even get a lifeline in the repechage. The two
bronze medal fights were Asia-Europe contests in which both
Asians came out on top.
Mayumi Yamashita of Japan, no relation to the coach, and
Kim Seon-young of South Korea took their places on the podium.
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