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Olympic Judo Recaps: 21 July (Day 2)

Judo - Men's & Women's Half-Heavyweight Preliminaries

Poland and France on Course for Gold: By getting past Antal KOVACS (HUN), Pawel NASTULA of Poland has emerged as a strong contender for a medal in the men's division. NASTULA moved into the semifinals with wins over Gigi GUIDO of Italy and Pedro SOARES of Portugal.

Miguel FERNANDEZ, a 32-year-old self-employed businessman from Sao Paulo Brazil will be NASTULA's next opponent in the finals. FERNANDEZ earned the right to vie for the gold by rolling past opponents from Argentina and Kazakstan. FERNANDEZ was the gold medal winner in SEOUL in 1988.

On the not so "weaker sex" side of the competition, Ulla WERBROUCK (BEL) is performing to pre-Olympic games hype by making short work of Simona RICHTER (ROM) and Ylenia SCAPIN of Italy. Another heavy favorite Yoko TANABE of Japan is steam rolling past her competitors scoring ippons over ERTEL of Germany and HOWEY of Great Britain.

Estha ESSOMBE of FRANCE hopes to duplicate what her fellow countryman did yesterday in the men's heavyweight division by taking home the gold medal as well. She will be facing ESSOMBE in the finals of Pool B later today. ESSOMBE had a busy morning getting past Cuba's Diadenis LUNA and Gomez of Venezuela. ESSOMBE, the 1994 French Champion, did not start competing until she was 25 years old. She is currently age 33 now and looks very capable going the distance for a medal.

Those judokoas coming back through the repecage bracket in the women's division include Yienie SCAPINA (ITA), Svetlana GALANTE (RUS), Hannah ERTEL (GER) and Diadenis LUNA (CUB).

Attendance at this morning's matches topped 6,000 as each day the judo competition in these Centennial Olympic Games seem to rise even greater.

"We are feeling very confident right now...Esta (ESSOMBE) is getting more confident every day,"commented Stephane LIBERT, ESSOMBE's personal coach since 1986.


Judo - Men's & Women's Half-Heavyweight Finals

Poland and Belgium Take Home the Gold: The quest for gold for Polish Olympian Pawel NASTULA came a reality today as he scored an ippon (the equivalent of a pin in American wrestling) on KIM Min-Soo of Korea. NASTULA, a fierce competitor was jubilant after the win and was greeted by hearty cheers of approval from a large group of enthusiastic Polish fans. It was the first second ippon of the day for the gold medalist but it couldn't have come at a better time.

The loss handed KIM Min-Soo of Korea the silver. A Brazilian bolt of lightning by the name of Miguel FERNANDEZ gathered up the bronze by scoring an ippon over Bernardus SONNEMANS (NED). Stephane TRAINEAU of France snapped up the remaining bronze by disposing of Antal KOVACS of Hungary.

Ulla WERBROUCK was obviously moved during the playing of the Belgian national anthem as she was standing on the highest step of the podium after being awarded a gold medal for her incredible efforts all afternoon. WERBROUCK's final match proved victorious when she scored an ippon by tripping Yoko TANABE over her right foot with just 2 seconds remaining in the match for the point and the gold. Tears of jubilation followed immediately when she realized her accomplishment. The silver went to TANABE for a scrappy effort for the first 3:58 seconds in the match.

Diadenis LUNA (CUB) snared one bronze thus knocking her opponent, Tetyana BELYAYEVA of the Ukraine down to fifth place. LUNA, more aggressive during the bout, was unanimously awarded the victory by the judges at the conclusion of the 4-minute match. Ylenia SCAPIN of Italy received the remaining bronze medal after scoring an ippon in her repechage match.

Seventh place went to Hannah ERTEL of Germany.

On tap for tomorrow is the middleweight division both men and women.

"I'm so happy...so proud," said WERBROUCK. "Winning an Olympic medal is really a dream come true."

Ulla WERBROUCK of Belgium


This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.


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Olympic Factoid
Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium.