Douillet retains judo heavyweight crown

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Sydney: Frenchman judoka David Douillet, battling back from injury, sensationally retained his Olympic men's heavyweight title on Friday at the Sydney Games.

Douillet was fighting in only his third competition in the last 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 medallist 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 had not been 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.

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, equalling the record set by his countryman, Angelo Parisi in the early eighties.

But while Douillet felt on top of the world, Shinohara was inconsolable and cried throughout the medal ceremony.

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 non-scoring knockdowns.

Yuan was the more positive and her superior fitness and speed ensured she was usually first to the attack. Although they were both penalised for passivity towards the end of the bout, Yuan's victory was rarely in doubt.

World champion Beata Maksymow of Poland suffered a shock 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.



(c) Reuters Limited.