NZ Olympic official escapes hate mail

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX

New Zealand judo referee Craig Monaghan has left the country, escaping a continuing hail of abuse from Japan for his handling of an Olympic final.

The furious reaction, mostly by e-mail, includes a death threat.

Mr Monaghan and his wife, Katia, have left on a long-planned week's holiday that will come as a relief from the stress caused by Japanese judo fans angered by his ruling in favour of a Frenchman during the over-100kg final in Sydney last weekend.

The New Zealand Judo Federation has received a number of angry e-mails.

In one, a man said he wanted to kill Mr Monaghan.

Irate e-mails and letters from Japanese fans are also being sent to the Herald.

NZ federation president Harry O'Rourke laid a complaint with the internet provider used by the death-threat fan, but has not complained to police.

"Craig is distressed and disturbed about the tone of the e-mails," he said.

Under International Judo Federation rules, Mr Monaghan is not allowed to speak to the media about umpiring decisions.

But Mr O'Rourke said the decision against Japanese competitor Shinichi Shinohara was "completely above-board."

Judo effectively has three referees - the scoring umpire and two sideline judges.

If the judges do not agree with the scoring referee's decision they can overrule it. This was not done during the final.

Even Shinohara conceded: "I was not good enough. I am not dissatisfied with the call."

The complaints arose after Frenchman David Douillet threw Shinohara to the floor. Shinohara tried a counter-throw, but Mr Monaghan ruled it was unsuccessful and gave the points to Douillet.

The over-100kg is judo's most prestigious Olympic event.

Claire Hargreaves, a New Zealand referee with 19 years' experience who umpired at the Barcelona Olympics, was at the match.

She was "more than confident Craig called it correctly and I would have called it that way myself."

One of the messages published in the Herald this week about the fight said New Zealand had become "a hateful country."

Another demanded an apology from Mr Monaghan and suggested that he retire from judo.

Mr O'Rourke said the "outpour of rage" was surprising. Japanese people, especially judo competitors, are renowned for their discipline.

"But these ones seem to be bad losers who probably don't know much about judo."

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