Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Olympic Judo Men's 81Kilo and Women's 63kilo Finals

Olympic Judo Men's 81Kg and Women's 63Kg Finals

www.mma411.blogspot.com

Beijing, China—When the bell sounded, ending the Gold Medal match of the Men’s 81 Kilo Judo competiton, Ole Bischoff of Germany and Kim Jaebum of South Korea were both flat on the mat with their hands over their faces. One was smiling, the other cringing. As they stood and fixed their gi’s, the referee declared the winner, and decided that it was Ole Bischoff of Germany who was smiling.

Olympic Judo of the 2008 Beijing Games commenced this morning with American Travis Stevens making his debut against Tiago Camilo of Brazil. Off the bat, Stevens got right up in Camilo’s face, exactly the way to handle a traditional fighter. Stevens dropped for a seoi nage that Camilo stepped over, while Stevens ended up standing behind him. They started kazushi-jacking each other, trying to load each other up on their hips. Stevens swept Camilo while Camilo used the momentum to pull him to the side and end up on top of him. A big uchi-mata by Camilo wasn’t quite enough for an ippon, but it was enough to send the American Travis Stevens home without a medal.

The Japanese dominated in the Women’s 63kg Gold Medal bout, with Ayumi Tanimoto mopping the mat with France’s Lucie Decosse. At first, Decosse was solid, not letting Ayumi man-handle her, tripping her with a footstop. That pissed Ayumi off and she tripped Decosse with the same footstop, it was all fight from there on out. Decosse threw her leg out for an osoto-gari leg sweep, while Ayumi spun around and turned it into an amazing uchi-mata that sent Decosse’s feet in a rainbow arc over the mats and planted her there, where she sat stunned as the crowd went wild for Ayumi. Aiko Sato of Japan had fangirls cheering for her in the stands, Ayumi had an army of fanboys chanting her name and even a Japanese television stations staged to interview her post fight.

Tiago Camilo came back to face Guilluame Elmont of the Netherlands. Camilo came out with an ankle pick that slammed Elmont to the mat. I’m impressed with the judoka in that even a simple wrestling move like an ankle pick can end in a slam. Back in neutral, Elmont tried for an inside leg sweep that sent Camilo flying out of bounds. Elmont then tried for a seoi nage, big mistake as Camilo stepped over and spun into an armbar that had Elmont hugging his arms for dear life. Camilo then showed his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills as he transitioned to full-mount, cinched his arm underneath Elmont’s head, grabbed his gi sleeve and threw his other arm over Elmont’s neck for an Ezekiel Choke! Tiago Camilo of Brazil became the Bronze Medal winner with the first tap of the Beijing Olympics.

The crowd got quiet as Ole Bischoff and Kim Jaebum faced off in the finals. Bischoff immediately footswept Jaebum and swiveled around him like a wrestler, hopping to the side and attempting to pull him over for a guard sweep. Jaebum controlled the mat but Bischoff controlled the kazushi, every scramble was a setup for a throw. Bischoff hooked a leg inside Jaebum’s for a big trip and pulled him into guard, finally getting that guard sweep. The bell rang, ending the match, and declaring Ole Bischoff Olympic Champion.

Olympic Judo streams live at 12:00am tonight on nbcolympics.com. Yesterday's competition results are posted on my blog at www.mma411.blogspot.com

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