THE DOORS FINALLY OPENED

At last, it was achieved. Madrid'98 was a pioneering event in providing team and women's Judo World Championships. There were 24 participating countries, with 92 male and 25 female judokas. The medals were shared by 16 different countries. The medals ranking was headed by Germany, followed by United States and the People's Republic of China. The public thronged in great numbers to the outdoor INEF pavillion which was later used also for the second phase of the goalball events. The Team competition was won by France, with Japan winning the silver and Germany the bronze.

The Spanish delegation, together with the German, the British and the American, were the most numerous. Worthy of note was the participation of countries such as Burkina Faso with 2 judokas, Guatemala with 1 and Iran with 7, countries with little tradition in this discipline. It is significant to note that an ever-increasing number of countries are entering the so-called "minor" competitions.

Germany, the country that headed the medals table, won all its medals in the women's category, except for the men's team award, despite their lack of individual medals.

Amongst the stars of the competition were the American Kevin Szott (B2), in the over 100 kgs. category, quite an athlete, ranking as he does alongside the top US judokas and even competing against his sighted colleagues. The Briton Simon Jackson once again demonstrated his superiority on the tatami, maintaining his position as the "king" of Judo for the blind.

The countries with greatest tradition in martial arts lived up to expectations: China with 3 medals, Japan with 5 and Taiwan with 2 made things pretty difficult for their rivals.

As for Spain, who finished fifth in the overall ranking, they won the most medals (9) but only one of them was a gold: 5 medals for the women and 4 for the men was the tally for the host nation.

In general, praise must be given to the great performance of the blind female judokas, as this was the first time they were able to participate in an official competition at this level.

Germany won the team award and the Briton Simon Jackson gave us another exhibition