ID :
16149
Sun, 08/17/2008 - 01:26
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/16149
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Olympics: Wrestler Yoshida retains gold, C. Icho silver again
BEIJING, Aug. 16 Kyodo - Olympic wrestling champion Saori Yoshida easily defended her title Saturday at the Beijing Games, but Chiharu Icho settled again for silver, dashing her four-year dream to grab the gold together with her younger sister Kaori and Japan's hope to sweep all four weight classes in women's freestyle wrestling.
In swimming, Reiko Nakamura took the bronze in the women's 200-meter backstroke, breaking Japan's national record en route to winning a second straight Olympic medal in the event and bringing the nation's medals to twogolds and two bronzes in the sport.
Japanese cyclist Kiyofumi Nagai took the bronze medal in the keirin final, trailing British gold and silver medalists -- reigning world champion Chris Hoyand Edgar Ross.
Japan's medals so far at the Games came to 17 -- seven golds, five silvers andfive bronzes.
Five-time world wrestling champion Yoshida controlled her match from the start and never relented, winning in a victory by fall against China's Xu Li in the women's 55-kilogram final in a full show of recovery after her 119-match winning streak was put to an end in January with her stunning defeat at theWorld Cup team event.
But Icho struggled with her movement all day in the 48-kg category and had to be complacent with the same result from the Athens Olympics four ago with aloss to Canadian Carol Huynh.
''The road that I walked together with Kaori has been a bright one. I feel proud that I was able to do that with her,'' Icho said, noting that she is satisfied with the silver as her opponent was ''strong today and had more stamina than me.'' On Sunday, her younger sister Kaori Icho will aim to defend her title at 63 kg, while compatriot Kyoko Hamaguchi will seek the gold at 72 kg after a bronzefinish in Athens.
Swimmer Nakamura clocked 2 minutes, 7.13 seconds to renew Japan's national record and clinch the same bronze she secured four years ago. She became the first Japanese swimmer to win two consecutive Olympic medals in 72 years since Hideko Maehata in the 200-meter breaststroke in 1932 in Los Angeles and 1936 inBerlin.
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe took the gold in the 200-meter backstroke with anew world record of 2:05.24.
American Michael Phelps continued his gold rush, renewing the Olympic record with 50.58 in the men's 100-meter butterfly to claim his seventh gold medal inBeijing.
Phelps tied countryman Mark Spitz's record at the 1972 Munich Games for the most gold won in a single Olympics, and has one more race to go -- the men's4x100-meter medley relay final Sunday.
Japan's Takuro Fujii finished sixth in the butterfly to equal the Japanesenational record with 51.50.
In men's trampoline, Japan's Tetsuya Sotomura, seventh in the world ranking, advanced to the final with a fifth place finish in the qualification, but compatriot and 2007 world bronze medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama failed to make thelast eight in ninth.
Haruka Hirota of Japan, who was seventh at Athens, could not advance to thefinal in the women's trampoline with a 12th finish.
Japan missed out on a place in the men's table tennis team final after a heroic fightback ended with a 3-2 defeat to European champion Germany, and will nextface Austria in the second round of the repechage on Sunday.
In the women's team repechage, Japanese table tennis icon Ai Fukuhara and her teammates gained a 3-2 victory over Hong Kong in the second round and advancedto the bronze medal match against South Korea on Sunday.
On the softball field, Japan beat China 3-0 in the preliminary round a day after being routed 7-0 by the United States, the three-time defending Olympicchampion.
The United States cruised to a 7-0 win over Taiwan earlier Saturday to remain the only unbeaten team in the tournament. Japan improved its win-loss record to4-1 and China fell to 2-3.
In swimming, Reiko Nakamura took the bronze in the women's 200-meter backstroke, breaking Japan's national record en route to winning a second straight Olympic medal in the event and bringing the nation's medals to twogolds and two bronzes in the sport.
Japanese cyclist Kiyofumi Nagai took the bronze medal in the keirin final, trailing British gold and silver medalists -- reigning world champion Chris Hoyand Edgar Ross.
Japan's medals so far at the Games came to 17 -- seven golds, five silvers andfive bronzes.
Five-time world wrestling champion Yoshida controlled her match from the start and never relented, winning in a victory by fall against China's Xu Li in the women's 55-kilogram final in a full show of recovery after her 119-match winning streak was put to an end in January with her stunning defeat at theWorld Cup team event.
But Icho struggled with her movement all day in the 48-kg category and had to be complacent with the same result from the Athens Olympics four ago with aloss to Canadian Carol Huynh.
''The road that I walked together with Kaori has been a bright one. I feel proud that I was able to do that with her,'' Icho said, noting that she is satisfied with the silver as her opponent was ''strong today and had more stamina than me.'' On Sunday, her younger sister Kaori Icho will aim to defend her title at 63 kg, while compatriot Kyoko Hamaguchi will seek the gold at 72 kg after a bronzefinish in Athens.
Swimmer Nakamura clocked 2 minutes, 7.13 seconds to renew Japan's national record and clinch the same bronze she secured four years ago. She became the first Japanese swimmer to win two consecutive Olympic medals in 72 years since Hideko Maehata in the 200-meter breaststroke in 1932 in Los Angeles and 1936 inBerlin.
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe took the gold in the 200-meter backstroke with anew world record of 2:05.24.
American Michael Phelps continued his gold rush, renewing the Olympic record with 50.58 in the men's 100-meter butterfly to claim his seventh gold medal inBeijing.
Phelps tied countryman Mark Spitz's record at the 1972 Munich Games for the most gold won in a single Olympics, and has one more race to go -- the men's4x100-meter medley relay final Sunday.
Japan's Takuro Fujii finished sixth in the butterfly to equal the Japanesenational record with 51.50.
In men's trampoline, Japan's Tetsuya Sotomura, seventh in the world ranking, advanced to the final with a fifth place finish in the qualification, but compatriot and 2007 world bronze medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama failed to make thelast eight in ninth.
Haruka Hirota of Japan, who was seventh at Athens, could not advance to thefinal in the women's trampoline with a 12th finish.
Japan missed out on a place in the men's table tennis team final after a heroic fightback ended with a 3-2 defeat to European champion Germany, and will nextface Austria in the second round of the repechage on Sunday.
In the women's team repechage, Japanese table tennis icon Ai Fukuhara and her teammates gained a 3-2 victory over Hong Kong in the second round and advancedto the bronze medal match against South Korea on Sunday.
On the softball field, Japan beat China 3-0 in the preliminary round a day after being routed 7-0 by the United States, the three-time defending Olympicchampion.
The United States cruised to a 7-0 win over Taiwan earlier Saturday to remain the only unbeaten team in the tournament. Japan improved its win-loss record to4-1 and China fell to 2-3.
