miscmisc
15th August 2008, 06:54 PM
WOMEN
Women -48kg: Alina Alexandra Dumitru (Romania)
Tani's (Japan) loss to Dumitru at the semifinal sent shockwaves throughout the Japanese team, and although she was unlucky that the ref gave a shido (penalty) only to her in the last minute, it wasn't really a robbery. Dumitru had never beat Tani before AFAIK (few have ever beat Tani, to be fair), and the boost she got from that win made it so much easier to deal with Bermoy (Cuba) in the final, which ended with Dumitru's beautiful Ippon. Slender Dumitru tossing muscled-up Bermoy as if it was nothing, was quite a sight. Dumitru's body structure (tall and skinny) is very deceiving, as her body balance is phenomenal. Try to push her, pull her, shake her, and she would just stand still right there. An eternal third/fifth-place finally winning the biggest one.
http://img10.beijing2008.cn/20080809/Img214522551.jpg
Women -52kg: Xian Dongmei (China)
Xian's second Olympic gold in a row. She had to win the gold in front of the passionate home crowd who wanted nothing but the gold, and handled the pressure pretty well. North Korean judoka are always a threat, especially since you have very little information about them, but she managed to deal with one pretty soundly in the final.
http://img11.beijing2008.cn/20080810/Img214526395.jpg
Women -57kg: Giulia Quintavalle (Italy)
I doubt there were many who thought Quintavalle would be the eventual winner. She was always a contender in major tournaments, but consistently showed that she lacked weapons for actually winning something. However, she was very resilient in this Olympics, and beating Boenisch (Germany), who won the gold at Athens, in the first round clearly boosted her confidence. Beating her was in itself not such a big deal in actuality, but having a major win early in your campaign is sometimes the biggest thing you need in order to do well, especially in such a big tournament.
http://img06.beijing2008.cn/20080811/Img214529894.jpg
Women -63kg: Ayumi Tanimoto (Japan)
Tanimoto is one of those people who have this 4-year cycle in their performance. She is blessed when it comes to the Olympics. It's her second gold in a row, and made it look so easy by winning all the matches by Ippon. What a great performance in such a stacked weight class.
http://img01.beijing2008.cn/20080812/Img214534239.jpg
Women -70kg: Masae Ueno (Japan)
She had been plagued with injuries in recent years, but came back strong just in time for the Olympics. Very strong performance from start to finish, and she made it look like there was a huge gap between her and all the rest. Her quick win over Hernandez (Cuba) in the final was very, very impressive.
http://img11.beijing2008.cn/20080813/Img214538282.jpg
Women -78kg: Yang Xiuli (China)
She was certainly one of the candidates for the gold, but I must say she was a little lucky in the final. It was a very tense and tough match against Castillo (Cuba), which went into the golden time (sudden-death over-time), and eventually went to the judges' decision (which is rare in judo). I would give it to Castillo, but maybe that's just me. In any event, not really a daylight robbery, and I can live with that given the home advantage.
http://img07.beijing2008.cn/20080814/Img214542095.jpg
Women +78kg: Tong Wen (China)
The strongest candidate won the gold in front of the home crowd. Obviously I was rooting for her opponent in the final, Tsukada of Japan, and still kind of resent it that the ref gave Tsukada that bullshit shido, which clearly put pressure on her. But at the end of the day, it was a great come-from-behind Ippon win for Tong, and she did execute the seoi-nage at the perfect timing in a perfect way, with only 10 seconds remaining on the clock. Yes, she is clearly the top dog in the weight class regardless of the home field advantage.
http://img08.beijing2008.cn/20080815/Img214546166.jpg
Women -48kg: Alina Alexandra Dumitru (Romania)
Tani's (Japan) loss to Dumitru at the semifinal sent shockwaves throughout the Japanese team, and although she was unlucky that the ref gave a shido (penalty) only to her in the last minute, it wasn't really a robbery. Dumitru had never beat Tani before AFAIK (few have ever beat Tani, to be fair), and the boost she got from that win made it so much easier to deal with Bermoy (Cuba) in the final, which ended with Dumitru's beautiful Ippon. Slender Dumitru tossing muscled-up Bermoy as if it was nothing, was quite a sight. Dumitru's body structure (tall and skinny) is very deceiving, as her body balance is phenomenal. Try to push her, pull her, shake her, and she would just stand still right there. An eternal third/fifth-place finally winning the biggest one.
http://img10.beijing2008.cn/20080809/Img214522551.jpg
Women -52kg: Xian Dongmei (China)
Xian's second Olympic gold in a row. She had to win the gold in front of the passionate home crowd who wanted nothing but the gold, and handled the pressure pretty well. North Korean judoka are always a threat, especially since you have very little information about them, but she managed to deal with one pretty soundly in the final.
http://img11.beijing2008.cn/20080810/Img214526395.jpg
Women -57kg: Giulia Quintavalle (Italy)
I doubt there were many who thought Quintavalle would be the eventual winner. She was always a contender in major tournaments, but consistently showed that she lacked weapons for actually winning something. However, she was very resilient in this Olympics, and beating Boenisch (Germany), who won the gold at Athens, in the first round clearly boosted her confidence. Beating her was in itself not such a big deal in actuality, but having a major win early in your campaign is sometimes the biggest thing you need in order to do well, especially in such a big tournament.
http://img06.beijing2008.cn/20080811/Img214529894.jpg
Women -63kg: Ayumi Tanimoto (Japan)
Tanimoto is one of those people who have this 4-year cycle in their performance. She is blessed when it comes to the Olympics. It's her second gold in a row, and made it look so easy by winning all the matches by Ippon. What a great performance in such a stacked weight class.
http://img01.beijing2008.cn/20080812/Img214534239.jpg
Women -70kg: Masae Ueno (Japan)
She had been plagued with injuries in recent years, but came back strong just in time for the Olympics. Very strong performance from start to finish, and she made it look like there was a huge gap between her and all the rest. Her quick win over Hernandez (Cuba) in the final was very, very impressive.
http://img11.beijing2008.cn/20080813/Img214538282.jpg
Women -78kg: Yang Xiuli (China)
She was certainly one of the candidates for the gold, but I must say she was a little lucky in the final. It was a very tense and tough match against Castillo (Cuba), which went into the golden time (sudden-death over-time), and eventually went to the judges' decision (which is rare in judo). I would give it to Castillo, but maybe that's just me. In any event, not really a daylight robbery, and I can live with that given the home advantage.
http://img07.beijing2008.cn/20080814/Img214542095.jpg
Women +78kg: Tong Wen (China)
The strongest candidate won the gold in front of the home crowd. Obviously I was rooting for her opponent in the final, Tsukada of Japan, and still kind of resent it that the ref gave Tsukada that bullshit shido, which clearly put pressure on her. But at the end of the day, it was a great come-from-behind Ippon win for Tong, and she did execute the seoi-nage at the perfect timing in a perfect way, with only 10 seconds remaining on the clock. Yes, she is clearly the top dog in the weight class regardless of the home field advantage.
http://img08.beijing2008.cn/20080815/Img214546166.jpg