August 15, 2016
OLYMPICS
Japan sweeps judo golds at
Rio Olympics in middleweights
It’s gold again in diving
for China at Rio Olympics
By Beth Harris
By Maria Cheng
AP Sports Writer
The Associated Press
R
IO DE JANEIRO
— Japan swept the
judo gold medals
at the Rio de Janeiro Olym-
pics, taking the top spot in
both men’s and women’s
middleweight divisions.
Haruka
Tachimoto
struck gold first by defeat-
ing triple world champion
Yuri Alvear in the women’s
70-kilogram division.
Despite being penalized
for passivity in the first
minutes of the final — and
a partisan crowd cheering
against her — Tachimoto
managed to pin Alvear to
the ground for 20 seconds,
scoring an ippon victory
that automatically ends
the bout.
Alvear, 30, won a bronze
at the London Olympics.
She was Colombia’s flag
bearer at the opening cere-
mony.
After a disappointing
seventh-place finish at the
London Games, Tachimoto
said she refocused her
style, training in Mongolia
and England, and honing a
more defensive, counter-
attacking style that she
used to defeat Alvear.
The women’s bronze
medals were won by
Britain’s Sally Conway and
Germany’s Laura Vargas
Koch. A short time after the
women’s medal competi-
tion ended, Japan’s Mashu
Baker took the judo gold in
the men’s 90-kilogram divi-
sion.
The second-seeded Bak-
er, 21, defeated Georgia’s
Varlam Liparteliani in a
cagey final in which Baker
managed to score only
IO DE JANEIRO
— China easily
won its second gold
medal in diving at the Rio
Olympics, dominating the
men’s 10-meter synchro-
nized event while showing
the rest of the world how to
barely make a splash.
Chen Aisen and Lin Yue
totalled 496.98 points,
cruising to victory by 39.87
points.
American
teammates
David Boudia and Steele
Johnson took silver at
457.11. Tom Daley and
Daniel
Goodfellow
of
Britain rallied to claim
bronze in 445.45.
“We did our best, but I
don’t think it was perfect,”
Lin said.
Chen and Lin were
especially impressive on
their final two dives,
totalling the most points of
any team in both rounds.
China,
the
United
States, and Britain all
performed the same dive in
the fifth round, a forward 4
1/2 somersaults tuck that
carries one of the highest
degrees of difficulty.
The Americans went
first, scoring 85.47 points.
China was next, with Chen
and Lin putting on a clinic
with a score of 106.56. They
plunged into the water off
the 33-foot tower with very
little splash and earned a
perfect 10 for synchroniza-
tion.
Daley and Goodfellow
went last, scoring 92.13
and good enough to move
the Brits from fifth to third
after the German duo of
Patrick Hausding and
Sascha Klein performed a
less difficult dive that
earned fewer points and
dropped them to fourth.
“Going into the last
round there is always
pressure. When it’s the
Olympics, multiply that by
a million,” Daley said. “It
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
R
DIVINE DIVING. China’s Lin Yue, bottom, and Chen Aisen, compete
in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform diving final at the Maria
Lenk Aquatic Center during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
was windy, it was cold, and London, Boudia earned
we were two points behind bronze in platform synchro
with a different partner
the Germans.”
In the last round, the and gold in the individual
Americans and Chinese did 10-meter competition.
“One of every color,”
the same dive, a back 2 1/2
somersaults with 2 1/2 Boudia said. “I’ve never felt
twists pike only slightly so content and so calm.
less difficult than their You’re at the Olympic
previous one.
Games with millions of
Boudia and Johnson people watching you, so it’s
went first, scoring 95.04 a pretty good feeling.”
points with marks as high
Johnson, a 20-year-old
as 9.0. Chen and Lin did diver at Indiana Univer-
even better, hitting the wa- sity, was clearly thrilled
ter in unison and being re- with winning a medal in his
warded with 9.5s and 9.0s. Olympic debut. He and
Lin earned his first gold Boudia shared a watery
in the event since 2008, hug after their final dive,
when he and Huo Liang knowing they had clinched
teamed to win the synchro a spot on the podium.
platform in their home Johnson then covered his
country. He didn’t compete eyes with his hand and
in the event four years ago couldn’t stop smiling.
in London.
In 2009, Johnson struck
With lots of Chinese flags his head on the platform
and fans in the stands, the and was saved from
crowd booed heartily when bleeding out by his coach,
it saw the judges’ marks for who jumped in the pool and
Chen and Lin in the fourth held his head together. He
round. Fans didn’t think received 33 stitches and a
the scores ranging from 8.0 tube in his head to drain
to 8.5 were nearly high the chlorine.
enough, but it hardly
“It all worked out in the
mattered.
end,” Johnson said, the
“The mistake we made is silver medal around his
that we had a little bit of neck. “The fact that I’m still
hesitation
during
our alive is just more than I can
jump, so we did not handle ask for.”
it very well,” Lin said.
Chen and Lin were in
front from the start of the
six-round final and never
faltered.
Boudia and Johnson
controlled second place
throughout, leaving only
the bronze medal up for
grabs. Four years ago in
FIRST-RATE FLIPPING. Haruka Tachimoto of Japan, in white,
competes against Kelita Zupancic of Canada during the women’s 70-
kilogram judo competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. Japan swept the judo gold medals in Rio, taking the
top spot in both the men’s and women’s middleweight divisions.
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
once. Like Tachimoto, he attacked by Liparteliani.
Liparteliani was seeded
too was booed by the crowd,
which expressed disap- fifth and fought at the
proval that Baker ap- London Olympics, but was
peared to be withdrawing knocked out in the second
from the fight in its final round. The loss left him in
minutes.
But
with tears; he struggled to main-
Liparteliani failing to tain his composure through
score, Baker’s one throw the medal ceremony.
The men’s bronze medals
was enough to win.
Baker, whose father is were won by South Korea’s
Gwak
and
American, trained at the Donghan
Kodokan, the spiritual China’s Xunzhao Cheng.
Japan’s two golds put the
home of the Japanese mar-
tial art and its most famed country atop the judo
dojo after starting judo at medal table, adding to the
age six. Baker has won four gold already won by Shohei
judo Grand Slam titles and Ono in the men’s 73-kilo-
took a bronze at last year’s gram division. Although
world championships. He Japan dominated for years
was raised by his mother in at the Olympics in the
Japan and said he was martial art it developed,
dedicating his gold medal the country had its worst
to her. She travelled with performance at the London
Games, where it won only
him to Rio.
“To be an Olympic cham- one gold.
“We have to perform gra-
pion was my dream when I
was young, so I’m very ciously and courageously
happy now,” he said. Baker because Japan is the home
acknowledged that he of judo,” Tachimoto said af-
fought defensively in the ter her win. “Judo is one of
latter part of the fight, the most important sports
seeking to protect his slight to the Japanese people, and
lead by not risking being they expect gold medals.”
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