Gordon crashes out of judo event

Gordon reached the semi-finals in Athens but came away without a medal

Winston Gordon's -90kg judo campaign ended in the first round when he lost to Uzbekistan's Khurshid Nabiev.

The 31-year-old Londoner's two yukos were outscored by Nabiev's waza-ari,

Gordon, a semi-finalist in 2004, still had a chance to make the repechage but his hopes were finally ended when Nabiev lost his next bout.

"I was injured five weeks ago and thought it was my Olympic dream over, but I had a good team around me to help me get here," said Gordon.

"I've had lots of injuries in the build up but I'm a strong person and after every knockdown I got back up.

"I put a lot of hard work in but that's judo really, I went for a score which to the referees' eyes was against me.

"I thought I threw him first - I was dominant for most of the match and I felt strong but he caught me with an attack I initiated."

"My sister got all my friends to write sentiments in a book - that really gave me strength."