Cho Gu-ham wins silver in men's 100kg judo
Cho Gu-ham of South Korea is consoled by his coach Song Dae-nam after losing the final of the men's 100kg judo event at the Tokyo Olympics at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, July 29. Yonhap
Cho Gu-ham captured the silver medal in the men's 100kg judo event on Thursday, bringing South Korea its third judo medal from the Tokyo Olympics.
Cho lost to Aaron Wolf of Japan in the gold medal match at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
An Baul in the men's 66kg and An Chang-rim in the men's 73kg had each won a bronze medal. South Korea is still looking for its first Olympic judo gold since 2012.
Cho, world No. 6, beat No. 2-ranked Jorge Fonseca of Portugal in the semifinals to set up a match with Wolf. Neither Cho nor Wolf earned a point in four minutes of regulation, which set up an extra time where the golden score, or the first point, would finish the match.
The clock ran for 5:35 before Wolf applied o-uchi-gari, or big inner reap, to score the ippon victory.
Cho, who turns 29 Friday, also competed in the 2016 Olympics. He suffered a left knee injury three months before the event, and ended up getting knocked out in the round of 16 despite his medal contender status.
Cho poses for photos with his medal during the awarding ceremony for the men's -100kg Judo match of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday. AP-Yonhap
Judoka concedes defeat, shifts focus to next Olympics
Cho was equal parts gracious in defeat and motivated to do better next time.
"I was confident, but the opponent was strong," Cho said. "I felt it would be significant to face a Japanese opponent for the gold medal. I had a few opportunities but wasn't able to capitalize on them."
Cho lifted Wolf's arm in the air to congratulate the gold medalist, a display of gracious sportsmanship.
"I got the feeling that Wolf had done a lot of prep work on me," Cho said. "I think he was better prepared than I was. I have more work left to do."
Cho said the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the Olympics to be postponed by a year, also affected preparation for the South Korean judo team.
"It was difficult to get proper training done," he said. "I think all South Korean athletes here are capable of winning medals, but we went through a lot of adversity along the way."
Cho said he was losing a sense of purpose and motivation when the Olympics got pushed back, before putting himself together in time for Tokyo.
On the eve of his 29th birthday, Cho already knows what he wants to do once he goes home. "I am going to start preparing for the next Olympics," Cho said. (Yonhap)