Japan's Tanimoto wins second gold

By Ian Ransom

BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan's Ayumi Tanimoto became only the second woman to win two judo golds on Tuesday by defeating arch-rival Lucie Decosse of France to defend her 63-kg category title.

Tanimoto joins team mate Ryoko Tani, whose bid to win a third successive gold medal in the women's 52-kg competition on Saturday ended with a bronze medal.

The 27-year-old conquered a strong field in the lightweight division, blitzing all five of her opponents by ippon, including Cuba's Driulis Gonzalez, who she lost to at the world championships in Rio de Janeiro last year.

"Two of my opponents here have beaten me in the past, so I am very happy to get revenge by scoring ippon to beat them here," the judoka said after the final.

Revenge exacted on runner-up world champion Decosse was short but sweet in the final. After a tense minute and a half, Tanimoto launched a ripping uchi-mata attack, her leg sweeping backwards to lift Decosse off the floor and her torso twisting to dump the Frenchwoman on her back.

A devastated Decosse, who downed Tanimoto at the 2005 world championships in Cairo, had to be coaxed back to her feet to return to her place to bow and shake hands.

World champion Gonzalez was another contender with her hopes dashed. The Cuban's bid to equal Tani's record of five medals in five Olympic Games was quashed by Elisabeth Willeboordse in their bronze medal bout.

North Korea's Won Ok Im recovered from her semi-final loss to Decosse to take the other bronze by beating Austria's Claudia Heill.

In the men's 81-kg division, Germany's Ole Bischof emerged an unlikely champion after upsetting a string of more-fancied opponents to eventually beat South Korea's Kim Jae-bum in the final.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)