Inoue, who dismissed his first- and second-round opponents in a total of 28 seconds, achieved a perfect "ippon" score in defeating Nicolas Gill of Canada in the final of the men's 220-pound event. The bronze medal went to Iouri Stepkine of Russia and Stephane Traineau of France.

Lin won a split decision in the women's 172-pound final over silver medalist Celine Lebrune of France. Simona Marcela Richter of Romania and Emanuela Pierantozzi of Italy.

Middleweights Veranes, Huizinga Win Gold
Sibelis Veranes of Cuba and Mark Huizinga of the Netherlands grabbed gold in Wednesday's judo finals.

In the men's middleweight category, Huizinga topped Carlos Honorato of Brazil in the title match. Honorato had posted a perfect score in beating world champion Hidehiko Yoshida of Japan in the quarter-finals -- and broke Yohsida's elbow in the process. The bronze was shared by Frederic Demontfaucon of France and Rusian Mashurenko of Ukraine.

Veranes won the women's middleweight division over Kate Howey of Britain, Min-Sun Cho of South Korea and Ylenia Scapin of Italy shared the bronze medal.

Judo Medals Go to Japan, France
Japan's Makoto Takimoto and France's Severine Vandenhende are the latest gold medalists in the judo competition. Takimoto won the men's 178-pound division. In-Chul Chio of South Korea settled for silver. Nuno Delgado of Portugal and Aleksei Budolin of Estonia shared the bronze. Vandenhende claimed the women's 138-pound division, leaving Li Shufang of China in second place. Gella Vandecaveye of Belgium and Sung-Sook Jung of South Korea divided the bronze.

Spain, Italy Join Gold Rush
Monday's finals gave Europeans a chance to celebrate their first judo titles at Sydney. Isabel Fernandez of Spain beat Driulys Gonzalez of Cuba to earn gold in the women's lightweight (125-pound) division. Kie Kusakabe of Japan and Maria Pekli of Australia shared the bronze.

In the men's lightweight (160-pound) class, Giuseppe Maddaloni of Italy beat Tiago Camilo of Brazil for the gold. Anatoly Laryukov of Belarus and Vsevolodos Zelonijs of Latvia shared the bronze.

Gold for Turkey, Cuba
Day two of judo competition saw Turkey's Huseyin Ozkan and Cuba's Legna Verdecia take home gold medals. Ozkan won the men's 145-pound division Sunday, topping silver medalist Larbi Benboudaoud of France. Girolamo Giovinazzo of Italy and Giorgi Vazagashvili of Georgia shared the bronze.

Verdecia is the women's 114-pound champ. Japan's Noriko Narazaki took silver and the bronze was shared by North Korea's Sun Hui Kye and China's Yuxiang Liu.

Quick Start for Japan
Japanese athletes took the first two judo medals awarded. Tadahiro Nomura overcame Bu-Kyung Jung of South Korea in the final of the men's 132-pound event. The bronze medal was shared by Manolo Poulot of Cuba and Aidyn Smagulov of Kyrgystan.

In the women's 105-pound division, Ryoko Tamura was the winner, topping Lioubov Brouletava of Russia. The bronze went to Germany's Anna-Maria Gradante and Ann Simons of Belgium.
About Judo
From the ancient Japanese traditions of the Samurai come the 400 Olympic competitors who will be known as judoka. Judo -- derived from hand-to-hand combat techniques used by the famed warriors -- was introduced to the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. Women's judo came along in 1992. It's a fierce sport with a certain no-holds-barred quality. Opponents are permitted to choke each other and break bones without fear of penalty, though most matches are conducted in a series of lifts, throws and body slams.

Men and women compete in seven weight classes in two pools, with single-elimination tournaments based on five-minute matches for the men and four-minute bouts for the women. There's a distinctive quality to the bronze medal competition, however. All judoka who fall victim to one of the semi-finalists are re-entered in a fresh single-elimination tournament. The winner of the "loser's bracket" in each pool faces off against the second-place finisher in each pool -- and the winners of those matches are both awarded bronze medals.
Japan and South Korea are strong in the men's field, with strong competition from Germany, Belgium and France. The Cuban women are also a power.