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16236
Mon, 08/18/2008 - 11:07
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Olympics: K. Icho retains wrestling gold, as Hamaguchi again takes bronze
BEIJING, Aug. 17 Kyodo - Japanese wrestler Kaori Icho won gold in the women's 63-kilogram category at the Beijing Games on Sunday to claim her second straight Olympic title, while Kyoko Hamaguchi also repeated her performance at Athens for her second straight bronze at 72 kg.
It was also a day on which American swimmer Michael Phelps achieved his record-breaking eighth gold medal and British sailor Ben Ainslie took gold for a third straight Olympics, one of eight his country won over the weekend to leapfrog into third place in the medals table behind China and the UnitedStates.
Icho beat Russia's Alena Kartashova to give Japan its eighth gold at Beijing and was the sixth athlete from the country to win back-to-back titles, her only regret being that her older sister Chiharu had had to settle for silver for thesecond time in a row at 48 kg a day earlier.
After losing to China's Wang Jiao in the semis, Hamaguchi dominated her third-place match against American Ali Bernard, winning two periods for the bronze. The 20-year-old Wang beat Bulgaria's Stanka Zlateva in the final tograb the gold.
''This bronze means more to me than the one in Athens. It will be my life's treasure,'' Hamaguchi said. ''I went through so many obstacles to get here and wasn't able to wrestle. I am glad I believed in myself and I want to thank my mother.'' Earlier in the day, Japan took another medal in the pool when the men's 4x100-meter medley relay team captured the bronze medal, as in Athens, while Michael Phelps claimed his eighth swimming gold as the United States team set aworld record time of 3:29.34.
Phelps broke compatriot Mark Spitz's 1972 record at Munich for most gold medals won at a single Olympics, while the bronze gave Japan's Kosuke Kitajima his third medal in Beijing after the breaststroke specialist won the 100-meter and200-meter individual golds for the second straight Olympics.
But one gold and two bronze was Japan's total haul for the day, as its Olympic medal-winning streak in the women's marathon came to a disappointing end withYurika Nakamura finishing 13th and Reiko Tosa retiring during the race.
Romania's Constantina Tomescu won the gold, with Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and China's Zhou Chunxiu taking silver and bronze. Athens Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi had pulled out of the race due to a hamstring injury sustained inrecent training.
Japanese women had won two golds, a silver and a bronze in the marathon at theprevious four Olympic Games.
There was disappointment for Japan too in men's gymnastics, with Kohei Uchimura finishing fifth in the floor exercise final and Hiroyuki Tomita doing likewisein the pommel horse, China winning gold in both events.
Defending Olympic champion Koji Murofushi also finished in fifth place in the hammer throw final, his best throw of 80.71 meters falling short of the 82.02 by Slovenia's gold medal winner Primoz Kozmus, while Vadim Devyatovskiy andIvan Tsikhan took both silver and bronze for Belarus.
''All I was thinking about was giving it my best shot,'' said Murofushi, who was awarded the gold four years ago in Athens after Hungarian Adrian Annus wasdisqualified for a doping offense.
''This result is the best I could do. There have been a lot of struggles and four years of work are over in just one hour,'' added Murofushi, who made alate start to this season after struggling with lower back problems.
And Japan will have to continue its search for an elusive Olympic table tennis medal after the women's team suffered a 3-0 defeat to South Korea in the bronze medal match, following the men's earlier failure to book a place in the bronze-medal playoff with a 3-1 defeat to Austria in the second-roundrepechage.
In volleyball Japan fell to host China 26-24, 25-16, 25-14 to finish fourth in the preliminary round of the women's tournament and will face favorite Brazil in the quarterfinals. Both China and Japan were earlier assured of their places in the last eight when the United States handed Poland its fourth defeat on thefinal day of round-robin play.
But Japan is guaranteed a medal in softball along with the United States. Eri Yamada hit a two-run homer to highlight a four-run fifth-inning rally as Japan beat Venezuela 5-2 to secure its fifth win in six games and a place in the top two of the preliminary group. The top two teams are guaranteed medals in thesubsequent four-team knockout stage.
It was also a day on which American swimmer Michael Phelps achieved his record-breaking eighth gold medal and British sailor Ben Ainslie took gold for a third straight Olympics, one of eight his country won over the weekend to leapfrog into third place in the medals table behind China and the UnitedStates.
Icho beat Russia's Alena Kartashova to give Japan its eighth gold at Beijing and was the sixth athlete from the country to win back-to-back titles, her only regret being that her older sister Chiharu had had to settle for silver for thesecond time in a row at 48 kg a day earlier.
After losing to China's Wang Jiao in the semis, Hamaguchi dominated her third-place match against American Ali Bernard, winning two periods for the bronze. The 20-year-old Wang beat Bulgaria's Stanka Zlateva in the final tograb the gold.
''This bronze means more to me than the one in Athens. It will be my life's treasure,'' Hamaguchi said. ''I went through so many obstacles to get here and wasn't able to wrestle. I am glad I believed in myself and I want to thank my mother.'' Earlier in the day, Japan took another medal in the pool when the men's 4x100-meter medley relay team captured the bronze medal, as in Athens, while Michael Phelps claimed his eighth swimming gold as the United States team set aworld record time of 3:29.34.
Phelps broke compatriot Mark Spitz's 1972 record at Munich for most gold medals won at a single Olympics, while the bronze gave Japan's Kosuke Kitajima his third medal in Beijing after the breaststroke specialist won the 100-meter and200-meter individual golds for the second straight Olympics.
But one gold and two bronze was Japan's total haul for the day, as its Olympic medal-winning streak in the women's marathon came to a disappointing end withYurika Nakamura finishing 13th and Reiko Tosa retiring during the race.
Romania's Constantina Tomescu won the gold, with Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and China's Zhou Chunxiu taking silver and bronze. Athens Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi had pulled out of the race due to a hamstring injury sustained inrecent training.
Japanese women had won two golds, a silver and a bronze in the marathon at theprevious four Olympic Games.
There was disappointment for Japan too in men's gymnastics, with Kohei Uchimura finishing fifth in the floor exercise final and Hiroyuki Tomita doing likewisein the pommel horse, China winning gold in both events.
Defending Olympic champion Koji Murofushi also finished in fifth place in the hammer throw final, his best throw of 80.71 meters falling short of the 82.02 by Slovenia's gold medal winner Primoz Kozmus, while Vadim Devyatovskiy andIvan Tsikhan took both silver and bronze for Belarus.
''All I was thinking about was giving it my best shot,'' said Murofushi, who was awarded the gold four years ago in Athens after Hungarian Adrian Annus wasdisqualified for a doping offense.
''This result is the best I could do. There have been a lot of struggles and four years of work are over in just one hour,'' added Murofushi, who made alate start to this season after struggling with lower back problems.
And Japan will have to continue its search for an elusive Olympic table tennis medal after the women's team suffered a 3-0 defeat to South Korea in the bronze medal match, following the men's earlier failure to book a place in the bronze-medal playoff with a 3-1 defeat to Austria in the second-roundrepechage.
In volleyball Japan fell to host China 26-24, 25-16, 25-14 to finish fourth in the preliminary round of the women's tournament and will face favorite Brazil in the quarterfinals. Both China and Japan were earlier assured of their places in the last eight when the United States handed Poland its fourth defeat on thefinal day of round-robin play.
But Japan is guaranteed a medal in softball along with the United States. Eri Yamada hit a two-run homer to highlight a four-run fifth-inning rally as Japan beat Venezuela 5-2 to secure its fifth win in six games and a place in the top two of the preliminary group. The top two teams are guaranteed medals in thesubsequent four-team knockout stage.
