Half-Heavyweight (≤95 kilograms), Men

Japan’s Hitoshi Sugai from Tokai University was a heavy favorite, having won the 1985 and 1987 World Championship. But after five weight classes, no Japanese fighter had won a gold medal. As in Los Angeles, the half-heavyweight division was marked by numerous upsets. And in round two, it started when France’s Stéphane Traineau used ura-nage to defeat Sugai. When Traineau lost the next round to European Champion Jiří Sosna, Sugai was out of the repêchage as well. The 1980 Olympic Champion, Robert Van de Walle (BEL) appeared in control after two rounds, but lost his third match to little-known West German Marc Meiling. The final came down to Meiling against Brazil’s Aurélio Miguel, bronze medal winner at the 1987 Worlds. It was a very dull match with Miguel winning on a chui penalty given to Meiling. Miguel had fought five matches and had not scored a single point, winning two victories by decision, and three by passivity rulings.