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Taiwan sweep two Olympic taekwondo gold medals
World champion Chu Mu-Yen led Taiwan's sweep of two gold medals on the first day of the Olympic taekwondo contest on Tursday.
World champion Chu Mu-Yen led Taiwan's sweep of two gold medals on the first day of the Olympic taekwondo contest on Thursday but hometown hero Michalis Mouroutsos crashed to what he called a refer error.
Chu beat Mexico's Oscar Salazar in the men's under-58kg flyweight final 5-1.
His compatriot Chen Shih-Hsin outpointed world silver medallist Yanelis Labrada of Cuba in the women's under-49 flyweight final earlier in the day.
Chu and Chen lifted Taiwan's first-ever Olympic taekwondo gold since the Korean-born combat sport made its Olympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Games when the country took two bronzes.
The flyweight contests on the first day of the four-day contest did not feature any competitors from South Korea, who grabbed four out of eight gold medals in Sydney.
Greece's Mouroutsos, who triumphed in the men's flyweight in Sydney, lost to Tamer Bayoumi of Egypt 10-3 in the quarter-finals before a roaring home crowd.
"The referee did not give one or two points that I deserved," he said after the fight. "On the contrary, they gave my opponent three points that came out of nowhere."
In the men's final, Chu and Blanco exchanged several kick attempts without scoring a point in the first three-minute round.
But the 22-year-old world champion scored three kicking points in the second round and finished the match at 5-1.
Bayoumi, who upset Mouroutsos, took the bronze by beating Juan Ramos of Spain 9-4 after losing to Chu in the semi-finals and fighting back through the consolation round.
The women's final saw the two fighters fight even in the first two-minute round at two points each.
But the 25-year-old Chen went ahead to 5-3 in the second round.
She kept her points lead in the third round to win her first-ever global title at 6-4.
Yaowapa Boorapolchai of Thailand narrowly outpointed Colombian Gladys Alicia Mora Romero in the play-off for bronze.
