South Korea and Argentina won Olympic taekwondo gold medals in two dramatically different finals.
In the women's 67-kilogram division, Hwang Kyung-seon yesterday defended the title she first won at the Beijing Games by beating Nur Tatar of Turkey 12-5 in an action-packed final where both fighters were on the attack from the start.
On the men's side, Sebastian Crismanich of Argentina won the country's first gold of the London Games in the 80-kilogram.
In Hwang's bout, both fighters landed head kicks nearly simultaneously within the opening 12 seconds before Hwang took control, nailing Tatar with several more body and head shots.
The 26-year-old two-time world champion Hwang previously won a bronze in Athens and became the first woman to win three Olympic taekwondo medals.
Hwang used her speed and flexibility to dominate all of her matches on Friday.
She said there was pressure on the Korean team to bring home gold medals since the martial art was developed there.
Until Hwang's win, Lee Dae-hoon's silver in the men's 58-kilogram division on Wednesday was the country's only medal.
"It feels like flying," Hwang said afterwards. "I've done something special for the country and it makes me very proud."
The bronze medals were won by Paige McPherson of the US and Germany's Helena Fromm. Crismanich defeated Spain's Nicolas Garcia in a cautious final where both fighters seemed reluctant to attack.
