Tani takes judo bronze for Japan's 1st medal in Beijing

Saturday 09th August, 06:49 PM JST

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usversusthem at 09:36 PM JST - 9th August

The judge's decision in the semi-final at least made the remaining 30 seconds more interesting. First four minutes was a total snooze fest, and Tani certainly didn't sit back after that. Sucked in.

Winning the bronze means it's being looped on TV only every ten minutes, if it was gold it would be every two.

She's won five medals in the last five Olympics now anyway, including the silver in Barcelona when she was just 16.
pathat at 09:43 PM JST - 9th August

Tani takes judo bronze for Japan's 1st medal in Beijing

When a Japanese judoka wins at judo, it is due to superior training and technique. When a Japanese judoka loses to a foreigner, if even the slightest wiff of controversy can be injected into the Japanese media explanation circus to make it appear as if the Japanese was treated unfairly, or a foreign judge misunderstood the rules, it will be.

I personally think Tani winning another Olympic medal is quite an accomplishment.
ExPrinceska at 09:50 PM JST - 9th August

Actually I was wrong -its medals in 5 successive Olympics! she had silvers in 92 and 96. I didn't realize she want that far back, that is in fact very impressive. That is a rare feat indeed.

Her goal was to be the first woman in Japan who won Olympic gold after coming back after giving birth. Her goal was great, I admit but unfortunately she could not achieve it. Bronze is nice achievement too, but Japanese people recognize nothing except gold in judo.
DeepAir65 at 09:51 PM JST - 9th August

She was robbed - that Romanian girl did nothing. If I had been awarding it on points (have refereed Judo style competitions in UK national Jitsu competitions) I would have given it to Tani for being more aggressive - though not much in it, one of the most boring matches I have seen for a long time
redrightntrue at 10:29 PM JST - 9th August

Yo people ! Forget Tani ! The real news here is this,

"In the men’s 60 kg, meanwhile, Japan’s Hiroaki Hiraoka was sent to a shock defeat in his first match at the hands of unheralded American Taraje Williams-Murray, seeing his hopes for a medal shattered. Hiraoka, who had a bye into the second round, was never able to get his offense rolling against the lanky American and got a ‘‘shido’’ point deducted for passivity. ‘‘I’m sorry, I can’t speak right now,’’ Hiraoka said after his match."

How rare is that ? An American ? Do they study judo in the states ? But then again, how typical was Hiraokas response "I'm sorry, I can't speask". Well here loser, let me help you, try this, "congratulations to my opponent. He fought hard and deservbed the victory. I'll try to learn from this and move forward !"

Why can't Japanese athletes lose with dignity ? Why is it all about themselves, their own mistakes. Never a congratulations to the opponent. Japan should be taken to task for such borish behaviour. I'm embarrased for them, honestly embarrased !
Pukey2 at 10:53 PM JST - 9th August

She's a gaijin. Her name was written in katakana!

I hope the Japanese are happy that Tani did get a medal. There's absolutely no shame in getting bronze, considering that this is her third consecutive Olympic. But now that it's over, I don't want to see it again and again on TV.

redrightntrue: Absolutely! Good sportsmanship means being able to realize both your strengths and weaknesses and also recognizing and respecting other people.
romulus3 at 11:25 PM JST - 9th August

I hate watching Japanese at Olympics. they cry when they lose, just like the high school kids cry when they lose at baseball. is defeat met with tears? who teaches this? do their teachers put that much hurt on them for every single failure? that is why this country is going down. defeat should be met with the courage to get up and try again. I hope they take a lesson from Tani. she survived 5 Olympics and won medals 5 times. she did not get gold today as per expectation but you never saw her cry. she got up and won bronze. she was happy with that. did not cry one tear.
ExPrinceska at 11:33 PM JST - 9th August

Romulus, but the Romanian girl who won the gold cried. People cry from happiness and sadness, crying does not mean lack of courage, just emotion like disappointment and lack of satisfaction with the results. The athletes have a lot of hardships and sacrifices, so it is natural for them to be overwhelmed with emotions. Tears are so human, don't you cry sometimes, Romulus? I cry often because many things and people make me sad.
Kreza23 at 01:29 AM JST - 10th August

I really don't see what the big deal with crying is. Maybe (and I'm talking athletes who weren't favored to win, because it seems like it bugs you most when these types cry) it's not that they were expecting gold like you are assuming for some reason. But these athletes train very hard, and even if they don't expect gold, they dream big dreams and they hope for it. I don't know if you're a pessimist, but miracles happen in sports. And when it doesn't happen, that's the end of a life-long dream (or depending on the situation, the beginning of another four years of intense training). Or maybe they weren't expecting gold, but they weren't able to show the world what they were capable of on that day. Whatever the reason, I see no reason to really piss all over them for showing a little emotion when they're done. And I can guarantee you, you are gonna see a lot of different people, with a lot of different backgrounds cry at these Olympic games. So be prepared to get really annoyed. Or is it only when the Japanese cry that it'll get you mad?
northlondon at 02:04 AM JST - 10th August

Let's set the record straight for those uneducated writers of Judoka. The Japanese have a strong dislike of the current international Judo rules because of the way the rest of the world has changed the international rules of competition to stop the Japanese from winning everything in sight. It has got to the point where no Japanese have been voted as members of the international Judo association. Japanese Judoka are taught the beautiful form. That means to win by Ippon only (redright and usversus, that means throwing your opponent on his back and rolling your weight over them). The rest of the world (in particular the French) have developed a win-at-all-costs by points form, which is very defensive and very ugly to watch. The Budo origin of Judo was to maim or kill your opponent by throwing them onto their neck or head and not to use Judo as a defensive form of Budo. Most European Judoka are scared to throw for Ippon. That is why the Japanese are very patriotic about their Judo in the Olympics.
rajakumar at 03:43 AM JST - 10th August

Way to go Ryoko Tani/Fukuoka/Japan. 1st medal in.
FrEcKlEfAcE at 04:12 AM JST - 10th August

Man, Japanese athletes are ungracious in defeat. But, if you were to go through years of ruthless, medieval Japanese training regimes, you would probably feel not very friendly too.

Let's set the record straight for those uneducated writers of Judoka. The Japanese have a strong dislike of the current international Judo rules because of the way the rest of the world has changed the international rules of competition to stop the Japanese from winning everything in sight. It has got to the point where no Japanese have been voted as members of the international Judo association. Japanese Judoka are taught the beautiful form. That means to win by Ippon only (redright and usversus, that means throwing your opponent on his back and rolling your weight over them). The rest of the world (in particular the French) have developed a win-at-all-costs by points form, which is very defensive and very ugly to watch. The Budo origin of Judo was to maim or kill your opponent by throwing them onto their neck or head and not to use Judo as a defensive form of Budo. Most European Judoka are scared to throw for Ippon. That is why the Japanese are very patriotic about their Judo in the Olympics.

So, I quess you are advocating the Japanese want to go back to maiming and killing??...because they are taught the beautiful form? LOL
I don't believe you are being serious. I don't think the strong dislike of the rules have anything to do with the Japanese losing at Judo.
JPCNWT at 09:05 AM JST - 10th August

****Why can't Japanese athletes lose with dignity ? Why is it all about themselves, their own mistakes. Never a congratulations to the opponent. Japan should be taken to task for such borish behaviour. I'm embarrased for them, honestly embarrased !

I guess this is not offensive

Moderator: It's within the rules.
TheCode at 12:19 PM JST - 10th August

I hate watching Japanese at Olympics. they cry when they lose, just like the high school kids cry when they lose at baseball. is defeat met with tears? who teaches this?

Actually, I saw the South Korean judoka cry after winning his gold medal match.
TheCode at 12:58 PM JST - 10th August

To add, Ms. Tani was quite gracious at the end of all of her matches as she always promptly went in to shake her opponent's hands at the end of each match. Even in defeat, she went to shake her opponent's hand (while the Romanian opponent was jumping up and down in elation, not noticing Tani was even there). In her interview, Tani was straightforward about the defeat and congratulated her opponent (although I thought her opponent's win was iffy at best) and never shed a tear.