Tanimoto, 27, managed an ippon victory in the women's 63kg-class final, which added the second judo gold medal to Japan's squad.

The Japanese judoka, world silver medalist last year, shoulder-throwed her French rival to the tatami in one minute and 26 seconds. The sudden loss made Decosse motionless when kneeling down after the referee gave the ippon gesture.

The defending champion, who had not won any international title after 2004, scored ippon in all four bouts she played in the competition in which Tanimoto showed off her pinning technique to win three games.

Decosse, world silver medalist last year, ousted Olympic bronze medalist Claudia Heill of Austria in the first bout to make a clear way to the final.

The semifinals of the half-middleweight category neally repeated those in last year's world championships with Cuba's Driulis Gonzalez and Im Won Ko from DPRK. But this time Gonzalez failed to stop Tanimoto grabbing her second Olympic gold.

The Cuban veteran, 35, who had won three Olympic medals, was golden scored with a koka in overtime by Elisabeth Willeboordse of the Netherlands in the bronze medal competition.

Im Won Ko, whose world rank unavailable for rare appearance in international competition, outscored Heill to win the other bronze medal. She celebrated the medal in tears.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)