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Japanese press grieves Shinohara's "stolen" gold
TOKYO, Sept 23 (AFP) - The Japanese press Saturday grieved for judo giant Shinichi Shinohara over a "stolen" gold medal in Sydney, attacking what they charged was a mistaken refereeing decision during Friday's tense heavyweight final. In their front page coverage, all newspapers here carried a photo of a supposed knockout "ippon" win for Shinohara which the referee and one of the two judges gave an effective point for Frenchman David Douillet. "Shinohara, a bitter silver," lamented the respected Asahi Shimbun daily, backing the Japanese judo team's protests which denounced the referee as having failed to appreciate Shinohara's sophisticated technique. Sports-daily tabloids were furious. "Shinohara's Gold Stolen!," asserted the Tokyo-Chunichi Sports. "Worst mis-refereeing of the century!." The Japanese public, at once angry at the judges and sorry for Shinohara, let off their frustrations to the Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), which aired the controversial match on live late Friday. "We received 173 complaints from viewers yesterday following the broadcasting," said an official at NHK's viewers communication centre in Tokyo. "More complaints were received at our other regional bureaux," he told AFP. "And about 800 protests came in via fax." Straddling age and sexes, the viewers voiced strong protests at the poor refereeing and demanded that justice be done. "The Japanese people are all angry. You should broadcast a special program to investigate the wrong judgement and let the world know about it," the official quoted a 30-year-old woman viewer as saying. Soon after the match, even an NHK anchor woman burst into tears as she read out Shinohara's silver medal during a live broadcast from Sydney. Shinohara, 27, had hoped to bring Japan their first Olympic heavyweight gold since Seoul 1988. The match ended with a mix-up of points in favour of Douillet. But after the two fighters left the contest area, the decision stood as it was, according to international rules. Any protest would have had to be laid while the judokas were still on the mat.
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