Athens Olympic Games - Favourites of Women’s under 70kg Category
Women’s under 70kg Category
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Masae Ueno (Japan)
At the last two World Championships, Japan’s Masae Ueno has cemented herself as the finest fighter in the world at her weight. Before her it was Cuba’s Sibelis Veranes and before that Belgium’s Ulla Werbrouck, but the present and future are very much Ueno’s. Her big breakthrough came in the 1999 World Championship where she finished fifth. She bowled out early a year later at the Olympic Games in Sydney but in 2001 Ueno landed her first big title when she stepped up a level. She gained revenge on Werbrouck for her early defeat at the Games with a beautiful ashi-guruma for ippon in the semi-final and followed that up in the final with revenge on the fighter who denied her bronze in 1999, Britain’s Kate Howey. Ueno was now the leading fighter in her division and augmented that position by winning the Tournoi de Paris the next year and retaining her world title last year. Ueno is lightning fast for her weight and her tai-otoshi and ashi-guruma suit her short stocky physique. Hwever she was thrown for ippon recently with uchi-mata in a domestic competition and that defeat will offer some hope to her adversaries in Athens. She is not unbeatable but has not been beaten in international competition since the 2001 Tournoi de Paris final when she succumbed to Werbrouck. But that defeat is a long time ago and losing, like winning, can become a habit. Ueno has the winning habit and the confidence that comes from knowing you have beaten all your closest challengers. There are some great fighters competing in Athens and some overwhelming favourites, and Ueno fits comfortably into both categories.
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Edith Bosch (Netherlands)
This tall elegant fighter has been promising great things for several years and has finally started to deliver at the highest level. She took her time to adapt to senior judo since winning the world junior title in 1996 but in 2002 and 2003 Bosch really matured into a world class fighter. At the turn of the year she won the Fukuoka Cup in Japan, a sensational achievement for a European. That followed on from a strong performance in the European A Tournament season where she won in Rome and Bucharest. She kept that form going strongly into 2003 winning the Tournoi de Paris and the Rotterdam A Tournament before taking bronze at the World Championships. She was well beaten by Ueno on that occasion but Ueno is the ideal build to tackle Bosch’s long limbs and significantly higher centre of gravity. And her low techniques are also ideal to attack the Dutch fighter. But Bosch is ever improving as she demonstrated this year by storming to the European title. It probably should have been her third European title but a bizarre error in the 2002 final against Adriana Dadci of Poland and a disqualification in her semi-final last year cost her those two extra titles. Still, with Tournoi and Fukuoka titles under her belt, she has thrust herself to the forefront of her contemporaries’ consciousness. No longer is she a fighter of potential but now one of the favourites and probably the most feared fighter in Europe. She has some strong techniques but also an enviable physique and the tactical acumen to fight in a variety of manners depending on the situation.
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Kate Howey (Britain)
The veteran of the weight division Kate Howey will be fighting in her fourth Olympics and last competition before retirement. The British fighter is one of the most successful competitors in women’s judo having won Olympic bronze in 1992, came 5th in 1996 and won silver last time out. She was world champion in 1997 and has more than 10 European medals, but no gold. She is the type of fighter who can almost always be relied on to bring home a medal and it will be a major surprise if she does not this time. But for all her success and countless medals, Howey has only one top level gold from 1997. She has always lacked something at the vital time and her collection of silver and mostly bronze medals must be a source of frustration for her. The dream finish for her career would be to complete a full set of Olympic medals by claiming the gold in Athens and bowing out as Olympic champion. But the years are catching up on her. However, the format of Olympic competition will suit her as there are only 22 fighters in her category. A good draw could see her straight into the round of 16 meaning she would need to win only four fights for gold. If her draw was kind as well, she could be in the quarter-finals before she faces a genuine challenger. With her talent and fighting spirit, that would make the gold medal a real possibility and the ideal curtain would come down on one of the finest careers in women’s judo. Her non-stop attacking style has been her downfall in the past when referees have failed to penalise an opponent merely hanging on for dear life. But if the refeering is good and she fights cleverly, that gold is not out of reach.
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Anaisis Hernandez (Cuba)
It has been a rocky road to the Olympics for the 2001 World bronze medallist and 2004 Pan-American champion. She started out at under 63kg but lost her place when Driulis Gonzalez returned up a weight after child birth. Hernandez had borne the brunt of her coach’s anger after losing a vital contest in the 2002 World Team Championships in Switzerland. She lost by a penalty and Cuba lost 4-3 to Japan in the final. But reigning Olympic champion Sibelis Vernaes has disappeared from international competition and her replacement Regla Leyen absconded to America. Having lost her place at under 63kg, Hernandez stepped up, and successfully so as she won the Hamburg Super A tournament this year. She is unique among Cuban women as she fights with classical judo techniques like uchi-mata rather than the Cuban speciality drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi that has proved so successful. A tall and slim fighter in comparison to her team-mates she is more suited to upright judo but has not achieved the same level of success as her fellow Cubans. Still she is a double Pan-American champion and world medallist so she has proved she has the ability to compete at the top. And this category does not have the sort of strength in depth others do so despite her relatively recent step up in weight she stands out as one of the favourites. The gold medal may be beyond her on this occasion but a medal of some colour is very likely.
Ones to Watch:
This division is not loaded with potential medallists so it is difficult to pick out likely contenders to upset the apple-cart from among the rest. But one who certainly has potential is Asian silver medallist Ryon-mi Kim of North Korea. She finished 7th at the World Championships a year ago and has a typically brusque style of the North Koreans. Aggressive and energetic she is one of number of medal possibilities among the North Korean contingent at the Games.
Dongya Qin of China narrowly missed out on a medal at last year’s World Championships when she was beaten for bronze by Bosch. But Qin won the 2002 Asian Games ahead of Ueno, who suffered a very rare defeat since winning her first world title. Qin is clearly a force at this weight and like the North Koreans the Chinese are very aggressive fighters so she will cause problems whoever she faces.
Rasa Sraka won the European title in 2003 following Bosch’s disqualification for throwing with an armlock in the semi-final. It was the culmination of an excellent season for the Slovenian after she won the Sofia and Minsk A tournament titles. She was in even better and more consistent form this year, winning in Tallinn, taking silver in Sofia and Warsaw and bronze in the Super A events in Moscow and Hamburg, the A tournament in Leonding and the European Championships in May. Medalling in seven out of seven tournaments this year is an impressive tally and put her third behind Bosch and Adriana Dadci of Poland on the European rankings. But after fighting so much to the latter stages of so many tournaments, she risks burn out in Athens.
There are fighters who have impressed this year such as Czech’s Andrea Pazoutova who reached the Moscow, Hamburg and Leonding finals but lost all three before winning bronze in the European Championships. France’s Amina Abdellatif won in Paris but missed out on the Olympics because of the stringent qualifying rules. Poland’s Adriana Dadci, the 2002 European Champion gets my final vote though, after three A tournament victories this year. She won in Moscow, Sofia and Leonding to add to her Hamburg Super A victory a year ago. Her European performances in thelast two years have been poor, though, as was her World Championship performance last year. But those three titles this year prove she has the talent and the form to get among the medals at the Games.
Intrnational Results:
2003 World Championships – Oaska, Japan.
Masae Ueno (Japan)
Regla Leyen (Cuba)
Annet Boehm (Germany) & Edith Bosch (Netherlands)
2000 Olympic Games – Sydney, Australia.
Sibelis Veranes (Cuba)
Kate Howey (Britain)
Ylenia Scapin (Italy) & Min-sun Cho (Korea)
2002 World Junior Championships – Jeju, Korea.
Asuka Oka (Japan)
Maryna Pryshchepa (Ukraine)
Yosra Zribi (Tunisia) & Mylene Chollet (France)
2004 European Championships – Bucharest, Romania.
Edith Bosch (Netherlands)
Cecilia Blanco (Spain)
Andrea Pazoutova (Czech) & Rasa Sraka (Slovenia)
2004 Asian Championships – Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Masae Ueno (Japan)
Ryon-mi Kim (North Korea)
Sagat Abikeeva (Kazakhstan) & Mi-jung Kim (Korea)
2004 Pan-American Championships – Margarita, Venezuela.
Anaisis Hernandez (Cuba)
Elizabeth Copes (Argentina)
Christina Yannetsos (USA) & Diana Chala (Ecuador)
2004 African Championships – Tunis, Tunisia.
Rachida Ouardane (Algeria)
Antonia Moreira (Angola)
Yousra Zribi (Tunisia) & Christelle Okodombe (Cameroon)
2004 Oceania Championships – New Caledonia.
Catherine Arlove (Australia)
Stephanie Topp (Australia)
Janelle Shepherd (Australia) & Kate Stanbridge (New Zealand)
2004 Tournoi de Paris.
Amina Abdellatif (France)
Maryna Pryshchepa (Ukraine)
Catherine Jacques (Belgium) & Ylenia Scapin (Italy)
2004 Moscow Super A Tournament.
Adriana Dadci (Poland)
Andrea Pazoutova (Czech)
Rasa Sraka (Slovenia) & Gevrise Emane (France)
2004 Hamburg Super A Tournament.
Anaisis Hernandez (Cuba)
Andrea Pazoutova (Czech)
Rasa Sraka (Slovenia) & Catherine Roberge (Canada)