At the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the judo competition at the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall featured fourteen weight classes—seven for men and seven for women—where athletes from around the globe competed for gold.
Tadahiro Nomura and the Men’s Lightweight Divisions
In the men’s -60 kg category, Japan’s Tadahiro Nomura captured the gold medal, outfighting Georgia’s Nestor Khergiani, who took silver. The bronze medals in this division went to Choi Min-ho of South Korea and Khashbaataryn Tsagaanbaatar of Mongolia. Moving up to the -66 kg division, Masato Uchishiba secured another gold for Japan by defeating Slovakia’s Jozef Krnáč in the final. Georgi Georgiev of Bulgaria and Yordanis Arencibia of Cuba rounded out the podium with bronze medals. In the -73 kg category, South Korea’s Lee Won-hee earned the gold medal, leaving Vitaliy Makarov of Russia with the silver. Brazil’s Leandro Guilheiro and the United States’ Jimmy Pedro claimed the bronze medals.
Mid-Weight and Heavyweight Battles
The middleweight divisions brought intense tactical battles on the tatami. In the -81 kg class, Ilias Iliadis of Greece electrified the home crowd by taking the gold medal against silver medalist Roman Gontyuk of Ukraine. Flávio Canto of Brazil and Dmitri Nossov of Russia earned bronze. The -90 kg gold went to Zurab Zviadauri of Georgia, who defeated Japan’s Hiroshi Izumi in the final match. Mark Huizinga of the Netherlands and Khasanbi Taov of Russia took home the bronze medals. In the -100 kg division, Ihar Makarau of Belarus secured the gold medal, with Jang Sung-ho of South Korea taking silver, while Michael Jurack of Germany and Ariel Ze’evi of Israel claimed bronze. In the heavy +100 kg division, Keiji Suzuki of Japan claimed the gold, defeating Russia’s Tamerlan Tmenov in the final. Estonia’s Indrek Pertelson and Dennis van der Geest of the Netherlands earned the bronze medals.
Ryoko Tani and Women’s Division Champions
The women’s competition featured equally fierce contests across all seven weight classes. In the -48 kg division, legendary Japanese judoka Ryoko Tani secured the gold medal, defeating France’s Frédérique Jossinet in the final. Julia Matijass of Germany and Gao Feng of China claimed the bronze medals. In the -52 kg class, Xian Dongmei of China won gold against Japan’s Yuki Yokosawa, who took silver. Ilse Heylen of Belgium and Amarilis Savón of Cuba rounded out the podium with bronze. Yvonne Bönisch of Germany captured the -57 kg gold medal by defeating Kye Sun-hui of North Korea in the final match, while Yurisleidy Lupetey of Cuba and Deborah Gravenstijn of the Netherlands took bronze.
