LONDON – Lucie Decosse of France finally got an Olympic gold. She defeated German Kerstin Thiele in a tense final Wednesday in the 70-kg category of Olympic judo – a match marked by aggressive grabbing and pulling that sometimes resembled a schoolyard fight. Decosse won a silver at Beijing and is a triple world champion. The women's bronze medals were won by Yuri Alvear of Colombia and Edith Bosch of the Netherlands. In the men's 90-kilogram division, Song Dae-nam of South Korea won the gold medal. Song defeated Cuban Asley Gonzalez in a closely contested final that went into overtime. Japanese fighter Masashi Nishiyama won a bronze. The other bronze medal was won by Ilias Iliadis of Greece. Kim wins sabre gold Kim Jiyeon of South Korea won the Olympic fencing gold medal in women's individual sabre, topping Russia's Sofya Velikaya 15-9 in the final. Kim downed two-time gold medalist Mariel Zagunis of the United States in the semifinals. Zagunis left without a medal, losing to Ukraine's Olga Kharlan in the bronze-medal bout. Venezuela's Ruben Limardo won the men's epee title, his country's first ever Olympic fencing gold. He defeated Norway's Bartosz Piasecki 15-10 with South Korea's Jung Jinsun taking bronze by beating Seth Kelsey of the United States 12-11. Weightlifting gold for NK Rim Jong Sim won North Korea's third weightlifting gold medal when she clinched the women's 69-kg class Wednesday. Rim lifted a total weight of 261 kgs but was challenged until the end by Romania's Roxana Cocos, who finished with silver. Maryna Shkermankova of Belarus got the bronze. Lu Xiaojun set snatch and total world records as China swept the gold and silver medals in the men's 77-kg class. Lu lifted 175 kgs in the snatch, bettering his own world mark by 1 kg. He then took 204 kgs in his final clean and jerk for a world record total of 379 kgs. Countryman Lu Haojie was a distant second while Cuba's Ivan Cambar Rodriguez got the bronze. China pockets TT gold Li Xiaoxia extended China's domination in women's table tennis by clinching the gold medal with a victory over teammate Ding Ning in singles final. China has won every women's singles gold medal in table tennis since the game was introduced at the Olympics in 1988. It has won 21 of 25 gold medals in the sport and is expected to sweep all four gold medals in London in singles and team play. Feng Tianwei of Singapore defeated Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan for the bronze. — Agencies
