The semi-final showdown between Ole Bischof (GER) and Travis Stevens (USA) at the 2012 London Olympics was an intense match that left both Judokas bloodied. Stevens face was covered in bandages, Bischof received an elbow to the face, and the two men even had a stare down that you rarely in judo.
After 3 minutes of Golden Score with no score or shido for either men, it went to a decision.
Cleveland.com describes the match in detail:
“Then they were on the mat and at each other, attempting to get holds high on each other’s bodies to set up falls or the chance to force a submission. Seconds in, as they grappled, Bischof, who looks a bit like the actor Greg Kinnear, cut Stevens over his left eye. As the blood started, a trainer was called. He wrapped the bandage around Stevens’ head. For now, it was the Karate Kid.
Minutes later, the cut opened again, and this time the wrap went diagonal across Stevens’ face, much more of a mummy look. Stevens said the wrap didn’t bother him and all he wanted was the trainer to hurry up.
“I felt the German was getting tired and the doctor was trying to finagle some stuff, but I needed him off the mat so I could get my hands back on the German to keep wearing him out,” Stevens said. “He was lucky there were two cuts in the match, and I felt that gave him a little break to get himself composed.”
Don’t forget the staredown. Between the blood, Stevens and Bischof went nose-to-nose for a brief moment in a sport seeped in traditional rules of etiquette. That was real. The two forced handshakes afterward were less so.
“We don’t really see eye to eye,” Stevens said. “That was nothing we haven’t done in the past.”
Stevens was prepared for a new future. Though neither athlete scored, Stevens felt he controlled much of the five-minute bout and the overtime period, so he went to the ground in the final minute, looking to grind out the clock and go to a decision. When it ended, Pedro pumped his fists. The referee grabbed a white flag and a blue flag for himself and the same pair for the two corner judges.
Then simultaneously, each of the three raised the flag of the man they felt had won. All three raised blue.
Stevens wore white.
“I was devastated. I was devastated,” said Stevens, who thinks he saw relief on Bischof’s face. “I was mentally and physically ready to win the gold medal. I don’t feel like the German beat me, I feel like the refs took it away from me more than anything.”
Kayla Harrison, Stevens’ Team USA teammate and Boston training partner who goes for her own gold Thursday, said, “Watching him cry, it breaks my heart.”
For Pedro, it was more anger.
“I was fully confident Travis won,” the coach said. “The German coach apologized to me afterward. I think everyone in the room who really knows judo well thought Travis won. I had a lot of foreign people come up to me and say that. It was close. It could have gone either way, but nine times out of 10, Travis gets that match.”
Pedro was disturbed that all three judges – from Slovenia, Romania and the Netherlands – were European.
“He was fighting a European superstar,” Pedro said. “So I don’t think that helped us any.”
Admitting the semifinal drained him, Bischof went on to lose in the final, settling for silver. Bandaged and beaten, Stevens returned 45 minutes later and lost his bronze medal chance to a Canadian he’s beaten many times before. It was no surprise. When he lost his gold, he had nothing left.
“The German just took it out of me today,” Stevens said.
He’d put four years in. He couldn’t come back in less than an hour.
“My grandfather died last year, and it pretty much felt the same way,” Steven said. “Just like losing a family member, you’ve lost something you wanted your entire life. That’s it. It’s time to go home. There’s nothing to be done.”
But for those who saw it, there was something to be remembered.”
