Japanese read all about it after swimming gold

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese newspapers rushed out special editions to celebrate swimmer Kosuke Kitajima's gold medal in the 100 meters Olympic breaststroke on Monday.

Kitajima's victory helped to ease the disappointment after judoka Ryoko Tani, one of Japan's most popular athletes, won only a bronze at the weekend after golds in two previous Games.

People flocked to buy special editions of newspapers Yomiuri, Asahi and Sports Nippon on the streets of Tokyo after Kitajima, 25, broke the world record on Monday and became the first swimmer to win Olympic 100 meters breaststroke at successive Games.

"This is really wonderful... He's a guy that Japan can be proud of," said 53-year-old Shuichi Fukatsu.

Even traders took time out to follow the action in an event which crowned Kitajima as Asia's greatest swimmer.

"Of course everyone in our dealing room watched Kitajima's race," said a trader at a major Japanese bank, who declined to be named.

The victory by Kitajima, who won both 100 and 200 meter golds in 2004 at Athens, came two days after Tani lost in the women's 48-kg semi-final judo match and won the bronze medal on Saturday.

On Sunday, fellow Japanese judoka Masato Uchishiba, 30, won the gold in the men's 66-kg final, helping restoring some of Japan's confidence. He had also won gold in Athens.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda telephoned to congratulate Uchishiba after he had won Japan's first gold medal in Beijing.

"I was glued to the TV," domestic media reported Fukuda as telling Uchishiba.

The successes come after disappointment for Tani, who has been one of Japan's most admired athletes since she made her Olympics debut at age 16 in 1992 at Barcelona.

Expectations for Tani, now a 32-year-old mother with a young son, to win a third successive Olympic title were so strong in Japan that the following day, major newspapers posted headlines such as "Mommy disappointed with the bronze".

"I guess no matter how strong you are, there is a moment of carelessness," said 48-year-old business owner Yasuyuki Sase.

"But everyone in the country thinks that her medal is equivalent to a gold medal."

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota, Rika Otsuka and Takanori Isshiki; editing by Keith Weir)