Haven't seen the match yet. Rhadi beat his first opponent, the Syrian Yhya Hasaba by Ippon score after 5 minutes. Unfortunately he lost in the round of 16 against Korean Sung Ho Jang on a points win at the 4:52 mark.
Inoue beat his first opponent, Amel Mekic, by Ippon; his second opponent, Antal Kovacs of Hungary by Koka; and Martin Kelly of Australia by Ippon(best of 16)
Inoue just got beat by the Dutchman Elco VanderGeest by a huge ippon.
That sucks ass! :(
Ricky-for real??
Yeah, go to the Judo forum. We're talking about it there.
Actually never mind-just saw the results. Amazing. Huge upset. Cant wait to see the match!
Thanx for the heads up about the Judo forum. Just went there:)
He just lost his repechage match against the Cameroonian. No medal prospects for Rhadi. He won 1 and lost 2 today.
Silk you were right. I really thought Rhadi would go further. He is still an amazing symbol of determination. Although I have heard he actually wants to give pro football a shot I hope he remains active in the judo and BJJ world.
JUDO: Ferguson and Kubes elminated from medal contention
ANO LIOSSIA OLYMPIC HALL, Greece (August 19, 2004) – Rhadi Ferguson, men’s 100 kg, Colo. Springs, and Nikki Kubes, women’s 78 kg, Ft. Worth Texas, lost their first consolation round matches this afternoon and were eliminated from medal contention.
Rhadi faced Franck Martial Moussima of Cameroon. Both players received penalties for passivity, but late in the match Moussima came in low and threw Rhadi for a Yuko score (quarter point) which proved to be the difference in the match.
Nikki faced the #3 seeded Edinanci Silva of Brazil. Nikki came out aggressively and Silva was given a penalty for passivity. However, at about the 1:20 mark, both women went to the ground and when Nikki tried to get Silva in a pin, Silva reversed it, and pinned Nikki, ending the match.
Quotes:
Rhadi:
Asked what he’s taking home from the Games:
“Two losses. But that’s OK. I won a match too. Everything I had, I left out there on the mat."
“I’ll tell you, waiting on deck for each match, I was smiling. Excited. Not really nervous, but my hands and legs were quivering, teeth clackin’ together. Just from the excitement of the Olympics.”
“I started Judo at 7 years but took a long time off. Came back at 22 and now at 29, after a number of injures, I’ve played three matches in the Olympic Games.”
Asked as a college football player, what’s the biggest crowd he’s played in front of and how does this crowd compare:
“Probably something around 65,000 was the biggest. But it’s not the crowd, it’s the Olympics. I've never played in the Super Bowl, but the ambient pressure of the Olympic Games is incredible. There’s nothing like it.”