Exhausted and tearful after losing his bronze-medal contest, Aaron Cook blamed the judges for making poor decisions that cost Great Britain a first Olympic medal in the sport. Cook, the 17-year-old world junior champion, was beaten by Zhu Guo, of China, in the -80kg repechage bout and said the judges had been swayed by the crowd.

Cook was denied two points when the judges failed to score a head-kick and was then deducted one point for two minor penalties in the second of three rounds. He lost the fight 4-1.

“I am so gutted,” Cook said. “I thought the scoring was horrendous. I don't know what the judges were looking at. I am miles better than that guy. The crowd didn't affect me, but it must have affected the scoring.”

The teenager from Dorchester, Dorset, had been impressive in his early contests, watched by the Princess Royal and Sir Steve Redgrave, but had an agonising defeat late on in his semi-final match against Mauro Sarmiento, of Italy. With the scores level at 5-5, the Italian claimed victory with a last-second strike, but Nelson Miller, Cook's coach, said the hit had come after the bell.

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Sarmiento had had another controversial win in the quarter-finals when he beat Steven Lopez, of the United States, twice an Olympic champion, 2-1 after the American had a point docked for what the referee saw as an illegal kick. The Italian lost to Hadi Saei, of Iran, in the final.

Britain still have hope of a medal in the women's event. Sarah Stevenson, a former world champion, competes in the +67kg category today.