rule the roost

日本の柔道界のあり方にヤワラちゃんこと、谷亮子議員が憤っています。rule the roostは「（人が）〜を牛耳る、支配する」という意味です。roost（「止まり木」）は「首座」を表し、そこを自分のものにするというところからきたイディオムです。これはしばしばrule the roastと誤って使われることがあります。おそらくはroost とroastの発音上の混同から起きた誤用でしょう。（UG）

Russian judoka rule roost now, says Tani

Double Olympic gold medalist Ryoko Tani has slammed Japan’s “sloppy technique and weak hearts” for their stunning failure on the judo mats at the London Games.

The 36-year-old Tani, women’s 48-kilogram champion at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, warned that Japan faced a tough slog to get back to the top after Russia’s emergence in London, local media reported on Wednesday.

Japan won just one gold in London, Kaori Matsumoto’s in the women’s 57-kilo division, with the men failing to win a title for the first time since judo became an Olympic sport at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

“Both the men and women’s spirit, technique and condition were all over the place,” Tani told Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
“Either they had the technique but lacked heart or they were in great condition but the technique and heart wasn’t there.”

http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/russian-judoka-rule-roost-now-says-tani