SYDNEY -- Was he robbed? Reigning world champion Shinichi Shinohara thought so, standing on the mat in protest at the judge's decision to award defending Olympic champion David Douillet a "yuko" that won him the Olympic gold medal in the over-100-kg class at the Sydney Exhibition Center on Friday night.
Japan's giant of the "gentle way" had punched his hands in the air after the two big men went sprawling to the floor in the second minute of the bout, thinking he had turned Douillet's move into a counterattack and scored an outright win.
But the Frenchman was awarded a point in a matchup where it was always going to be hard to score. When the clock ran out, that was all that separated the two men who fought it out for the title of the greatest judo fighter in the world.