In the final, his adversary was the Japanese Shinichi Shinohara, double champion of the world in 1999. That game is seen as a revenge of the 1997 World Judo Championships finals, where Douillet had beaten the Japanese heavyweight. The confrontation between the two judokas was extremely tactical, and it was only after one and a half minutes that the Frenchman took the lead thanks to a mowing by the interior of the thigh ("uchi-subdued"). The referee decision allotted a "yuko" to Douillet, a decision disputed by Shinohara, who argued that he dodged and then countered the Frenchman. However, the head referee was not moved, and Shinohara did not manage to make up for this lost time. After five minutes of fight, David Douillet was finally able to win his second Olympic gold medal. This was also a victory for the Judo history books as he became the fighter with the most international titles. With six major international titles (2 Olympic titles, 4 world titles), he passed the Japanese Yasuhiro Yamashita (1 Olympic title, 4 world titles) who won his titles in the seventies. The Olympic tournament in Sydney, however, marked the end of the road for the French judoka, who immediately announced his retirement after the competition, he won 88 matches and lost 21.