World champion Lucie Decosse was at her brilliant best as she produced a dominant display of dynamic judo to advance into the women’s under-70kg semi-finals on Wednesday. The 30-year-old is bidding for her first ever Olympic gold medal following three world titles and four European crowns. Four years ago in Beijing she was favourite in the under-63kg category but was beaten by long-time rival Ayumi Tanimoto of Japan in the final. Here, though, she looked totally focused, waiting patiently for an opportunity before throwing Canada’s Kelita Zupancic for the maximum ippon (a technical knock-out) with a kosoto-gari (minor outer reap) 30-seconds from the end of her bout. In the quarter-finals she was in a hurry and took just 10-seconds to humiliate 2009 world champion Yuri Alvear of Colombia with an uchi-mata (inner-thigh throw). She will face Hwang Ye-Sul in Wednesday’s semi-final after the South Korean produced the most remarkable upside-down o-goshi (hip throw) on Slovenia’s Rasa Sraka. Hwang lifted Sraka off the ground and as she launched herself into the throw she managed to tip the Slovenian the wrong way up as she drove her into the mat, flat on her back.
