Ryoko Tani Record Japanese judoka " Tani falls short in quest for gold "

Tani burst onto the world judo scene as a 16-year-old in 1992 when she clinched her first Olympic medal in Barcelona.The first of her seven world championships followed in 1993 -- and the 1.46 meter tall judoka has won gold in the biannual competition every time since, except in 2005 when she took time out of the sport to have a baby.Indeed, she enjoys a sporting celebrity marriage to fellow Olympian, Yoshitomo Tani, a professional baseball player who currently plays as an outfielder for the Yomiuri Giants. In Beijing in 2008 Tani, who hadn't been beaten in a major international competition since the Atlanta Games in 1996, saw her hopes of a third-straight gold evaporate when judges awarded penalty points to Romania's Alina Dumitru after both competitors failed to show much aggression.

Looking stunned, Tani fought desperately after the final controversial penalty call, but with only seconds left she had no time to mount an attack. She defeated Russia's Lyudmila Bogdanova for bronze. She gained her fifth Olympic medal with the bronze. Tani lost the 2007 All-Japan Weight Class Judo Championship, which doubles as the qualifier for Olympics and the World Championships on those years when the events take place, but was selected as Japan's representative anyway by the All Japan Judo Federation (AJJF). She then won the gold medal in the Rio de Janeiro World Championships.

Tani lost the All-Japan again in April 2008, to 21-year-old Emi Yamagishi. Indeed the 48 kilogram competitor came to Beijing looking to make it a trio of consecutive gold, having won gold medals at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. The seven-time World Champion was also a silver medalist at Barcelona 1992 and at Atlanta 1996 -- and has now won more Olympic medals than any other judoka in history -- nudging past Angelo Parisi (France/Great Britain) and Driulis Gonzalez (Cuba) who are four-time medalists. Her fighting spirit never wavered and her effort was never less than stellar, but judoka Ryoko Tani came up short in Beijing on Saturday in her quest to capture a third straight Olympic gold medal. Romania's Alina Dumitru defeated the five-time Olympian by "keikoku" in the 48-kg women's semifinals at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.

Olympic Games
Silver	1992 Barcelona	- 48kg
Silver	1996 Atlanta	- 48kg
Gold	2000 Sydney	- 48kg
Gold	2004 Athens	- 48kg
Bronze	2008 Beijing	- 48kg
World Championships
Bronze	1991 Barcelona	-48 kg
Gold	1993 Hamilton	-48 kg
Gold	1995 Chiba	-48 kg
Gold	1997 Paris	-48 kg
Gold	1999 Birmingham	-48 kg
Gold	2001 Munich	-48 kg
Gold	2003 Osaka	-48 kg
Gold	2007 Rio de Janeiro	-48 kg
Asian Games
Gold	1994 Hiroshima	-48 kg
Asian Championships
Bronze	1991 Osaka	-48 kg