Beijing - Veteran Deborah Gravenstijn put the horror of a long-term neck injury behind her to take silver in the women's 57- kilogram category at the Beijing Olympics and immediately saluted the new young guard of women's judo. Gravenstijn was a bronze medallist in Athens four years ago but suffered her serious injury in August 2005 as well as knee surgery the following spring.
But the woman who turns 34 on Wednesday week showed she is a true battler by making it all the way to the final before going down to Giulia Quintavalle of Italy by yuko in Monday's final.
"This new generation is very good. It's good for them to win matches from the older judokas," she said
"I'm still from the older generation but I was more determined than the others."
Other big names weren't so lucky. Defending Olympic champion Yvonne Boenisch of Germany lost to Quintavalle by waza-ari in her opening match while world champion and gold medal favourite, Kye Sun- Hui of North Korea, lost to two-time European champion Barbara Harel, also by waza-ari, in the second round.
Meanwhile, Gravenstijn battled past Sydney 2000 champion Isabel Fernandez in the quarter-finals before beating 26-year-old Xu Yan of China in the semis.
However, the 25-year-old Quintavalle proved a bout too far for the First Lieutenant in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, who was still happy with her silver.
"I'm very happy with my medal. I had to work very hard to come back," she said before praising the new younger fighters in the sport.
"It's good for judo its good for women's judo."
However, Gravenstijn laughed at the idea of hanging around to compete at the London Olympics in 2012.
"I won't be around for London in 2012."
