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Tamura, Nomura win the golds for Japan Associated Press SYDNEY, Australia -- The trip from world champion to Olympic champion was a long one for Japan's Ryoko Tamura. Tamura, four times a judo world titlest, won the gold Saturday in the women's 48kg, defeating Lioubov Brouletova of Russia in the championship match. Ann Simons of Belgium and Anna-Maria Gradante of Germany shared the bronze. Tadahiro Nomura completed a Japanese sweep on the first day of judo competition with a victory over South Korea's Jung Bu-kyung. Manolo Poulot of Cuba and Aidyn Smagulov of Kyrgyzstan shared the bronze medal. The victory by Nomura, the 1997 world champion, helped Japan avenge its defeat at the world championships last year. Tamura won a silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games and then went on an 84-match winning streak that carried her into the championship match at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. But the 4-foot-9 Tamura surprisingly lost to unknown North Korean Kye Sun-hi to again settle for silver. Tamura almost didn't even get that far this time: Her first match, against China's Zhao Shunxin, nearly went to a referee's decision. It remained scoreless until Tamura threw Zhao for yuko with two seconds left. |  | ALSO SEE Judo results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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