Extra-Lightweight (≤60 kilograms), Men

Tadahiro Nomura had won the gold medal in this class in 1996 and 2000. But in 2001 he married former model Yoko Sakai, and competed less in the ensuing years. In 2003, he won the All-Japan Championships for the first time in three years, advancing to the World Championships, where he won what was for him a disappointing bronze. He was expected to be challenged in Athina by Great Britain’s Craig Fallon, runner-up at the 2003 World Championships, who would win that title in 2005. But Fallon lost in the pool quarters and Nomura went on to dominate the event thru the early rounds. In the final he defeated Georgia’s Nest’or Khergiani by decision to become the first judoka to win three consecutive gold medals at the Olympics. Nomura did not compete again until 2006 when he announced his intention to win a fourth gold medal in Beijing. He won the 2006 All-Japan title, his sixth in that event, but eventually did not qualify for the 2008 Olympics and retired just before they started.