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Cisse earns Cote d'Ivoire first ever Olympic gold with last-second hit

Xinhua, August 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Cheick Sallah Cisse handed Cote d'Ivoire's first ever Olympic gold medal with a dramatic head kick in the last second of the men's -80kg taekwondo final on Friday at the Rio Games.

Muhammad dominated the first round with a 3-0 by a head kick before Cisse fought back to tie the game at 4-4 in the second round. Muhammad launched aggressive attacks in the beginning of the last round and bulit a 6-4 lead with 20 seconds left.

However, the British didn't expect what came to him next as Cisse earned one point back by warning penalty and delivered kick with one second left to seal a 8-6 unbelievable victory.

"The gold medal for me is the encouragement of two years of hard work. I am very proud of my medal. It's not me, it's God. I don't have the power to bring all these people here. It's the power of God that did this for me," said Cisse, who began competing in major competitions in 2014.

Muhammad, who finished in third place at London Olympics, failed to become the first British male athlete with multiple taekwondo medals.

"I don't want to cry but I am so sorry to the people that stayed up to watch. I let them down at the last second. This is so hard," he said.

Oussama Oueslati of Tunisia and Turkey's Milad Beigi Harchgani won the bronze medals.

In women'-67kg competition, South Korea's Oh Hyeri upset top seed Haby Niare from France to win the gold medal.

It is South Korea's second gold medal of these Games in taekwondo and the fourth Olympic title for them in this event.

Oh Hyeri, the 2015 World Champion in middleweight (67-73kg), had a 3-point deducted in the first round, but she landed three head kicks in a row to turn the game with a 10-4 lead in the second round. The world No.1 Niare came back and cut the deficit to 10-11 but Oh held her lead to take the crown by 13-12.

"I've always tried my best, not just at the Olympics but other international competitions as well. In some of those competitions I've come in second, I've felt like I've let people down. Just like any other day I've done my best today and the result is very satisfying. Just getting to this place, everything was perfect," said the 28-year-old Oh.

The bronze medals went to Oussama Oueslat of Tunisia and Milad Beigi Harchgani of Azerbaijan. Endit