| | Event type

Half-Lightweight (≤65 kilograms), Men

Date	26 September 1988
Status	Olympic
Location	Jang-chung Che-yuk-gwan, Seoul
Participants	42 from 42 countries
Format	Two single-elimination pools, with winner of each pool advanced to the final. All judoka losing to the winner of each pool advanced to repêchage pools, with the winners of the repêchage pools earning bronze medals.

The favorite was the 1987 World Champion, Japan’s Yosuke Yamamoto. In winning that title, he had defeated the 1985 World Champion, Yury Sokolov (URS), in the final. Sokolov was also in Seoul. More lightly regarded was Korean Lee Gyeong-Geun, who had been runner-up in 1985 to Sokolov. In the first round, Sokolov lost to former European Champion Bruno Carabetta (FRA), basically eliminating him from medal contention. The pool finals matched Yamamoto against unheralded Pole Janusz Pawłowski, and Lee against European Champion Tamás Bujkó. Yamamoto was not expected to have trouble, but Pawłowski threw him with ippon-seoi-nage to advance to the final. Lee won the other pool final with ippon from a hold, after dominating the Hungarian. The final was very close. Lee won, but only by decision (yusei-gachi) at the time limit.

Pos	Competitor	NOC
1	Lee Gyeong-Geun	KOR	Gold
2	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Silver
=3	Yosuke Yamamoto	JPN	Bronze
=3	Bruno Carabetta	FRA	Bronze
=5	Tamás Bujkó	HUN
=5	Brent Cooper	NZL
=7	Philip Laats	BEL
=7	Claudio Yafuso	ARG
=9	Drago Bećanović	YUG
=9	Ivo Kostadinov	BUL
11	Tommy Mortensen	DEN
=12	Pepi Reiter	AUT
=12	Pavel Petřikov	TCH
=14	Driss El-Mamoun	MAR
=14	Joe Marchal	USA
=14	Vicente Céspedes	PAR
=14	Jamsrangiin Dorjderem	MGL
=14	Majemite Omagbaluwaje	NGR
=14	Eduardo Landazury	COL
=20	Guido Schumacher	FRG
=20	Ricardo Cardoso	BRA
=20	Hussain Safar	KUW
=20	Pierre Sène	SEN
=20	Udo Quellmalz	GDR
=20	Wu Po-Chen	TPE
=20	Leo Sarti	SMR
=20	Stephen Farrugia	MLT
=20	Yavuz Yolcu	TUR
=20	Warren Rosser	AUS
=20	Luis Fortunato	ANG
=20	Ilias Ioannou	CYP
=20	Mamadou Keita	MLI
=20	Au Woon Yiu	HKG
=34	Mark Adshead	GBR
=34	Víctor Rivera	PUR
=34	Rishiram Pradhan	NEP
=34	Derrick Anderson	GUM
=34	Meziane Dahmani	ALG
=34	Yury Sokolov	URS
=34	Craig Weldon	CAN
=34	John Bogie	KEN
=34	Kamil Sabali	LBN
DNS	Sandeep Byala	IND		1
DNS	Mansor Awooda	YAR		2

Pool A

Date	26 September 1988

Round One

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Ivo Kostadinov	BUL	Yuko	Mark Adshead	GBR
Match #2	26 Sep	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Yuko	Philip Laats	BEL
Match #3	26 Sep	Driss El-Mamoun	MAR	Ippon	Kamil Sabali	LBN
Match #4	26 Sep	Udo Quellmalz	GDR	Yuko	Craig Weldon	CAN
Match #5	26 Sep	Joe Marchal	USA	Fusen-gachi	Sandeep Byala	IND	walkover
Match #6	26 Sep	Vicente Céspedes	PAR	Hansoku-gachi	John Bogie	KEN

Round Two

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Ivo Kostadinov	BUL	Ippon	Guido Schumacher	FRG
Match #2	26 Sep	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Waza-ari	Tommy Mortensen	DEN
Match #3	26 Sep	Driss El-Mamoun	MAR	Yuko	Hussain Safar	KUW
Match #4	26 Sep	Brent Cooper	NZL	Ippon	Pierre Sène	SEN
Match #5	26 Sep	Yosuke Yamamoto	JPN	Waza-ari	Udo Quellmalz	GDR
Match #6	26 Sep	Joe Marchal	USA	Ippon	Wu Po-Chen	TPE
Match #7	26 Sep	Vicente Céspedes	PAR	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Leo Sarti	SMR
Match #8	26 Sep	Pepi Reiter	AUT	Ippon	Stephen Farrugia	MLT

Quarter-Finals

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Ippon	Ivo Kostadinov	BUL
Match #2	26 Sep	Brent Cooper	NZL	Ippon	Driss El-Mamoun	MAR
Match #3	26 Sep	Yosuke Yamamoto	JPN	Ippon	Joe Marchal	USA
Match #4	26 Sep	Pepi Reiter	AUT	Ippon	Vicente Céspedes	PAR

Semi-Finals

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Koka	Brent Cooper	NZL
Match #2	26 Sep	Yosuke Yamamoto	JPN	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Pepi Reiter	AUT

Final Round

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Ippon	Yosuke Yamamoto	JPN

Repêchage

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Philip Laats	BEL	Ippon	Tommy Mortensen	DEN
Match #2	26 Sep	Philip Laats	BEL	Koka	Ivo Kostadinov	BUL
Match #3	26 Sep	Brent Cooper	NZL	Koka	Philip Laats	BEL
Match 3/5	26 Sep	Yosuke Yamamoto	JPN	Ippon	Brent Cooper	NZL

Pool B

Date	26 September 1988

Round One

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Claudio Yafuso	ARG	Ippon	Derrick Anderson	GUM
Match #2	26 Sep	Drago Bećanović	YUG	Yusei-gachi	Meziane Dahmani	ALG
Match #3	26 Sep	Bruno Carabetta	FRA	Waza-ari	Yury Sokolov	URS
Match #4	26 Sep	Tamás Bujkó	HUN	Koka	Víctor Rivera	PUR
Match #5	26 Sep	Au Woon Yiu	HKG	Fusen-gachi	Mansor Awooda	YAR	walkover
Match #6	26 Sep	Pavel Petřikov	TCH	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Rishiram Pradhan	NEP

Round Two

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Claudio Yafuso	ARG	Koka	Yavuz Yolcu	TUR
Match #2	26 Sep	Lee Gyeong-Geun	KOR	Ippon	Drago Bećanović	YUG
Match #3	26 Sep	Bruno Carabetta	FRA	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Luis Fortunato	ANG
Match #4	26 Sep	Majemite Omagbaluwaje	NGR	Waza-ari	Ilias Ioannou	CYP
Match #5	26 Sep	Tamás Bujkó	HUN	Ippon	Mamadou Keita	MLI
Match #6	26 Sep	Eduardo Landazury	COL	Yuko	Au Woon Yiu	HKG
Match #7	26 Sep	Pavel Petřikov	TCH	Koka	Ricardo Cardoso	BRA
Match #8	26 Sep	Jamsrangiin Dorjderem	MGL	Ippon	Warren Rosser	AUS

Quarter-Finals

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Lee Gyeong-Geun	KOR	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Claudio Yafuso	ARG
Match #2	26 Sep	Bruno Carabetta	FRA	Yusei-gachi	Majemite Omagbaluwaje	NGR
Match #3	26 Sep	Tamás Bujkó	HUN	Ippon	Eduardo Landazury	COL
Match #4	26 Sep	Pavel Petřikov	TCH	Yusei-gachi	Jamsrangiin Dorjderem	MGL

Semi-Finals

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Lee Gyeong-Geun	KOR	Yusei-gachi	Bruno Carabetta	FRA
Match #2	26 Sep	Tamás Bujkó	HUN	Ippon	Pavel Petřikov	TCH

Final Round

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Lee Gyeong-Geun	KOR	Ippon	Tamás Bujkó	HUN

Repêchage

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Sep	Claudio Yafuso	ARG	Waza-ari	Drago Bećanović	YUG
Match #2	26 Sep	Bruno Carabetta	FRA	Ippon	Claudio Yafuso	ARG
Match 3/5	26 Sep	Bruno Carabetta	FRA	Yusei-gachi	Tamás Bujkó	HUN

Final Round

Date	26 September 1988

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match 1/2	26 Sep	Lee Gyeong-Geun	KOR	Yusei-gachi	Janusz Pawłowski	POL