ID :
15937
Fri, 08/15/2008 - 12:22
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/15937
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Olympic: Kitajima wins gold again, Uchimura silver, as judoka flop+
event in 24 years.
But Japan's judoka had a bad day on the mat, with Olympic champion Keiji Suzuki stunned by a first-round loss in the men's 100 kilogram, and 2007 world silver medalist Sae Nakazawa falling at the same stage in the women's 78 kg.
Kitajima, who smashed American Brendan Hansen's world record in the 100 breaststroke on Monday, led from the start and touched the wall in an Olympic record of 2 minutes 7.64 seconds, with Australian Brenton Rickard taking the silver and Frenchman Hugues Duboscq the bronze.
Japan's other swimmers made less of a splash, with Athens bronze medalist Yuko Nakanishi fifth in the women's 200 butterfly, won by China's Liu Zige in a world record time of 2:04:18, and Japan coming seventh in the women's 4x200 freestyle, in which Australia set a new world record of 7:44.31.
In the men's 100-meter freestyle, Alain Bernard won gold for France, with Australia's Eamon Sullivan taking silver and American Jason Lezak the bronze.
In the gymnasium, the 19-year-old Olympic debutant Uchimura outshone compatriot Hiroyuki Tomita by overcoming two falls on the pommel horse to garner 91.975 points on six apparatuses, 2.6 short of China's two-time world champion Yang Wei who outclassed all rivals.
Uchimura, who helped Japan to the silver in the team event Tuesday, became the first Japanese medalist in the men's all-around since current team manager Kenji Gushiken won gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Tomita made an error on the rings during his routine and then crashed on the mat after releasing his left hand too early. He rebounded with clean routines in his remaining apparatuses, but it was not enough to catch Frenchman Benoit Caranobe for the bronze.
Judoka Suzuki was also sent crashing to the mat in his first bout by Mongolian Tuvshinbayar Naidan. The 2004 Athens Olympic champion at over 100 kg was dumped for an ippon defeat in under a minute and a half, and then suffered another ippon loss in the repechage to Germany's Benjamin Behrla in just 34 seconds.
Naidan went on to win the gold over Kazakhstan's Askhat Zhitkeyev.
Nakazawa lost her Olympic debut match on points to Lucia Morico of Italy and failed to advance to the repechage. China's Yang Xiuli won the 78-kg gold over Cuba's Yalennis Castillo after a full five minutes of extra time on a referees' decision as the more aggressive fighter.
In archery Nami Hayakawa's burgeoning hopes of a medal in the women's individual competition ended with a 112-103 quarterfinal defeat to Park Sung Hyun of South Korea, who later lost the final by a feather to China's Zhang Juan Juan 110-109.
In other events, Japan advanced to the semifinals of the men's table tennis team competition with a 3-0 win over Hong Kong, Jun Mizutani and Seiya Kishikawa surviving seven match points in the doubles to pull off the decisive win 5-11, 11-4, 12-14, 14-12, 15-13 over Athens Olympic silver medalists Li Ching and Ko Lai Chak.
In softball Japan beat the Netherlands 3-0 for a second successive win, having edged Australia 4-3 in the first round of games, but the Japanese women's hockey team suffered a setback with a 2-1 loss to Argentina.
In beach volleyball Mika Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara were sent packing from the tournament with their third straight defeat, at the hands of Cuba's Fernandez Grasset and Larrea Peraza 21-18, 21-17, while Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori are down but not yet out after losing to Americans Jacob Gibb and Sean Rosenthal 21-15, 19-21, 18-16.
But Japan's judoka had a bad day on the mat, with Olympic champion Keiji Suzuki stunned by a first-round loss in the men's 100 kilogram, and 2007 world silver medalist Sae Nakazawa falling at the same stage in the women's 78 kg.
Kitajima, who smashed American Brendan Hansen's world record in the 100 breaststroke on Monday, led from the start and touched the wall in an Olympic record of 2 minutes 7.64 seconds, with Australian Brenton Rickard taking the silver and Frenchman Hugues Duboscq the bronze.
Japan's other swimmers made less of a splash, with Athens bronze medalist Yuko Nakanishi fifth in the women's 200 butterfly, won by China's Liu Zige in a world record time of 2:04:18, and Japan coming seventh in the women's 4x200 freestyle, in which Australia set a new world record of 7:44.31.
In the men's 100-meter freestyle, Alain Bernard won gold for France, with Australia's Eamon Sullivan taking silver and American Jason Lezak the bronze.
In the gymnasium, the 19-year-old Olympic debutant Uchimura outshone compatriot Hiroyuki Tomita by overcoming two falls on the pommel horse to garner 91.975 points on six apparatuses, 2.6 short of China's two-time world champion Yang Wei who outclassed all rivals.
Uchimura, who helped Japan to the silver in the team event Tuesday, became the first Japanese medalist in the men's all-around since current team manager Kenji Gushiken won gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Tomita made an error on the rings during his routine and then crashed on the mat after releasing his left hand too early. He rebounded with clean routines in his remaining apparatuses, but it was not enough to catch Frenchman Benoit Caranobe for the bronze.
Judoka Suzuki was also sent crashing to the mat in his first bout by Mongolian Tuvshinbayar Naidan. The 2004 Athens Olympic champion at over 100 kg was dumped for an ippon defeat in under a minute and a half, and then suffered another ippon loss in the repechage to Germany's Benjamin Behrla in just 34 seconds.
Naidan went on to win the gold over Kazakhstan's Askhat Zhitkeyev.
Nakazawa lost her Olympic debut match on points to Lucia Morico of Italy and failed to advance to the repechage. China's Yang Xiuli won the 78-kg gold over Cuba's Yalennis Castillo after a full five minutes of extra time on a referees' decision as the more aggressive fighter.
In archery Nami Hayakawa's burgeoning hopes of a medal in the women's individual competition ended with a 112-103 quarterfinal defeat to Park Sung Hyun of South Korea, who later lost the final by a feather to China's Zhang Juan Juan 110-109.
In other events, Japan advanced to the semifinals of the men's table tennis team competition with a 3-0 win over Hong Kong, Jun Mizutani and Seiya Kishikawa surviving seven match points in the doubles to pull off the decisive win 5-11, 11-4, 12-14, 14-12, 15-13 over Athens Olympic silver medalists Li Ching and Ko Lai Chak.
In softball Japan beat the Netherlands 3-0 for a second successive win, having edged Australia 4-3 in the first round of games, but the Japanese women's hockey team suffered a setback with a 2-1 loss to Argentina.
In beach volleyball Mika Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara were sent packing from the tournament with their third straight defeat, at the hands of Cuba's Fernandez Grasset and Larrea Peraza 21-18, 21-17, while Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori are down but not yet out after losing to Americans Jacob Gibb and Sean Rosenthal 21-15, 19-21, 18-16.
