Judo: Dreams of a bronze hit the floor

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Try as they may, New Zealand's Olympic big guys, Les Mills and Mike Hooper, were never going to be a match for the relentless Korean cheer squad at the judo finals on Tuesday night.

The two Olympic aficionados slipped into Sydney's Darling Harbour to watch Kiwi judoka Tim Slyfield.

But with the din of the Koreans filling the stadium, they had about as much luck having themselves heard as Slyfield had, in the end, of winning.

The Auckland fighter was eliminated in the second round of the under-81kg division and then missed the chance of proceeding to a repechage bout which might have given him a shot at bronze.

He had done himself proud by defeating a Nigerian opponent, Majemite Omagbaluwaje, in the first round with a swift manoeuvre for which he was awarded the highest possible mark of ippon.

And in his second bout, 20 minutes later, the two-time Oceania champion seemed to be on top of Krisztian Tolgyesi until the Hungarian pinned Slyfield with a throw in the last five seconds.

"I didn't realise until I got up that he had got it and then there was only one second left so I couldn't do a thing," said Slyfield.

The Kiwi camp then turned their attention to barracking for Tolgyesi. A win by him would give Slyfield another life. But Tolgyesi lost and Slyfield had to be content with a placing in the top 16.

He was pleased to have had the chance to compete against other top fighters and was especially pleased with his first effort.

"I started off a bit slow and managed to get a big score at the end," he said. "During the second fight I attempted to put in a few more attacks in the last minute but narrowly lost."

Defeat meant the end of his six-year Olympic quest, but the 25-year-old third dan enjoyed the experience. Just sitting in the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre was an experience in itself.

Fans from the great judo nations of the world packed inside, cheering wildly.

None were wilder than the 100-strong group from Korea, who sat in a block with placards and a never-ending chorus-book of chants.