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Lopez adds to cache of Olympic taekwondo gold
ATHENS : US double world taekwondo champion Steven Lopez battled with a
partisan crowd barracking for the other side of the men's under-80kg field to
claim his second Olympic gold medal.
China's Luo Wei also overcame a one-sided crowd to beat Greek hope Elisavet
Mystakidou for the women's under-67kg gold medal, leaving the hosts without a
title for the third straight day.
In the men's welterweight final, Lopez beat Turkey's Bahri Tanrikulu 3-0 as the
crowd continued cheer against him intermingled with occasional boos as they did
when he beat Iraq's only taekwondo entrant Raid Rasheed in his opening match.
"I had the job to do and I did not let it bother me very much," Lopez said with
the gold medal, which was added to the under-68kg featherweight title he won in
Sydney when the Korean-born combat sport made its Olympic debut.
The 25-year-old American said he had been used to similar crowds which were
"sometimes envious and sometimes political" since competing internationally as a
15-year-old.
"I am very happy, so excited. It's a dream come true especially because Greece
is where the Olympics originated from," he said.
After a 1-1 tie in the first round, Lopez surged to a two-point lead in the
second as the Turk was slapped with a one-point penalty for passivity.
He scored another point while Tanrikulu suffered a further deduction before the
match ended.
"I thank the Greek sport fans," Tanrikulu said after grabbing Turkey's best-ever
Olympic taekwondo medal.
"I held and kissed both flags, the Greek and the Turkish, because I think there
is nothing that separates us from the Greeks."
South Korea had another luckless day as Asian junior champion Hwang Kyung-Sun
lost 10-8 to Luo, the 67-72kg middleweight world champion, in their opening
match.
But Hwang, 18, the first high school student selected on South Korea's national
team, fought back through the consolation round and beat Guatemalan Heidy Juarez
5-2 in the bronze-medal play-off.
Taiwan led the taekwondo gold medal table with two against one each for China,
Iran, South Korea and the United States.
Mystakidou, the world bronze medallist, came from behind to lead Luo 4-3 after
the second round.
The two fighters fiercely exchanged kicks and Luo, the world champion in the
67-72kg middleweight division, broke away from a 5-5 stalemate to emerge a 7-6
winner.
"My coach always tells me to go and fight without any reservation. And that's
what I did to win the gold medal," 21-year-old Luo said.
"Spectators had no negative impact on me because I was composed. I knew I had to
keep myself under control."
It was China's second Olympic taekwondo gold medal. Zhong Chen lifted the
over-67kg heavyweight gold in 2000.
Hosts Greece were left in disappointment after Olympic under-58kg flyweight
titleholder Michalis Mouroutsos and women's world under-57kg featherweight
champion Areti Athanasopoulou tumbled out early in their divisions, partly
blaming poor judge scoring on their failures.
Protests against judges' scoring continued with Rashad Ahmadov of Azerbaijian
staging a five-minute sit-in after losing to Tanrikulu on a decision in the
men's semi-finals.
But the competition's arbitration board later rejected his formal protest.
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