Day one of the competition was a good showing by our U.S. athletes.
Sayaka Matsumoto, 25, was our representative in the women's 48kg division and drew eventual bronze medalist Ryoko Tani of Japan, who is a judo legend - a two-time Olympic Champion, five-time medalist and six-time world champion.
I have worked with Sayaka successfully for many years, and we devised a solid gameplan, which Sayaka followed almost perfectly. The match went the entire five minutes, with Tani only able to score a yuko to win the match.
Certainly winning is the object, but Matsumoto fought a great match and should be proud of her performance.
Sayaka then had to face Shugen Wu of China. Matsumoto once again stuck to the game plan very well, until the last 50 seconds, when the Chinese star threw Sayaka for ippon (full point), eliminating her.
Sayaka fought very well, and I was proud of her performance in every way. My only regret with Sayaka was I wasn't able to work with her more over the years.
On the men's side, we had Taraje Williams-Murray, 23, going at 60kg. Even though for most of the year I was coaching against Williams-Murray - he beat out Jason Morris Judo Center's Nick Kossor at the Olympic trials - I of course was in his corner now. He started his day with a major upset, as he toppled Hiroaki Hiroaka of Japan to move into the second round.
In his next bout, against Javier Guedez of Venezuela, Taraje appeared to be in complete control and on his way to the quarterfinal when Guedez threw him with a sneaky seionage (shoulder throw) with one minute remaining in the bout to eliminate him.
Taraje has proven himself not only to be a terrific competitor but he showed a lot of class during this trip. He gave Olympic alternate Jeremy Liggett a USA Olympic-issue polo shirt for helping him before the event as a training partner. Taraje always asked permission from me to do his special drills during our regular training session, even though he knows my coaching style is pretty relaxed and would allow him to do what he needs to do he asked anyways.
I gained even more respect for him than I already had and wish him the best in the future.
USA Judo Team head coach Jason Morris is also posting photos to accompany his blog in the gallery "Olympic Experience". You can view the latest photos by clicking here, or view the entire gallery by clicking here.
