Half-Middleweight (≤78 kilograms), Men

Neil Adams (GBR) was a heavy favorite. He was the 1983-84 European Champion, 1981 World Champion, and had lost the 1983 Worlds on a narrow decision to Japan’s Nobutoshi Hikage. But Hikage had been beaten at the Japanese trials by Hiromitsu Takano, and was not in Los Angeles. Several other Europeans were considered challengers, but West German Frank Wieneke was not among them. But he kept winning, although with some difficulty, taking his pool to meet Adams in the final. It was expected that Adams would end his career by finally winning Olympic gold, and for the first three minutes of the final there was no real match. But Wieneke then attacked with uchimata, only to be repelled by Adams’ left hand. Wieneke then spun and grabbed Adams’s left hand, using seoi-nage to throw him for an immediate ippon. The players and crowd were too stunned to even realize what had happened for a moment. Wieneke would return in 1988 to win a silver medal, but never won another major international title.