L.A.’s Lopez Wins Bronze in Judo

Marlon Lopez of Los Angeles won a bronze medal in the men’s judo 146-pound weight class today during the first full day of competition in the Paralympics at Sydney, Australia.

Lopez, a native of Guatemala, lost his opening match to Russia’s Oleg Chabachov. However, Lopez got a second chance because of judo’s repechage system, which gives defeated competitors the opportunity to face one another and reenter the medal field. Lopez won three consecutive matches and clinched the bronze by throwing Oliveira Alessandro of Brazil in 2:10.

“I messed up in my first match, so I’ve used up all the mistakes for the team,” Lopez told his teammates after receiving his medal. “You all have to be perfect from now on.”

Lopez’s vision impairment is classified as B2, which ranges from the ability to recognize the form of a hand to a visual acuity of 2/60 and/or a visual field of less than five degrees. He became impaired at age 9, after he contracted Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

Judo competition in the Paralympics is open only to men and only to the visually impaired. The texture of the mats allows athletes to discern competition areas and zones. The weight divisions are the same as in the Olympics, as are the ways of scoring points, but competitors are assisted into a gripping position to start each match and are led back to that position after each break.

Dory Selinger of Oakland, who lost the lower part of his right leg in a cycling accident, won a silver medal in the mixed one-kilometer time trial LC2. Selinger was the world-record holder but finished second to Jiri Jezek of the Czech Republic. The LC2 category essentially is for riders who have a handicap in one leg but are able to pedal normally using two legs, with or without prostheses.

Paul Martin of Boulder, Colo., and Ron Williams of Birmingham, Ala., finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The U.S. men’s wheelchair basketball team routed South Africa in its opening game, 97-25.

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Four powerlifters have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in pre-competition testing.

The athletes will be punished if backup tests are also positive, the International Paralympic Committee said.

The athletes’ names and countries were not released.

“I am disappointed of course that we still have athletes who believe they need drugs to achieve their ultimate goal,” IPC President Robert Steadward said.

“On the other hand, I feel good we were able to do out-of-competition testing and prevent those athletes from competing and causing problems further down the line.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.