Laurin wins France's first-ever taekwondo Olympic gold
France's Althea Laurin claimed the women's taekwondo heavyweight title on Saturday, winning the country's first Olympic gold medal in the sport by beating Uzbekistan's Svetlana Osipova.
Laurin, 22, beat Osipova 3-0 3-3, snatching victory at the very last second with a spectacular kick to the head that allowed her to level the score with the Uzbek fighter.
With the home hope attempting a greater number of attacks, the referees estimated she won the match by superiority.
A beaming Laurin threw her fist in the air several times toward the excited French crowd that had shouted her name and clapped during the final in the stands at the Grand Palais.
Althea Laurin 🇫🇷 wins the W+67kg Olympic gold!🥇
— World Taekwondo (@worldtaekwondo) August 10, 2024
The sound in the Grand Palais is deafening as the crowd show their love for their new Taekwondo star!
Laurin beat Svetlana Osipova 🇺🇿 2-0 in the final as the Uzbek wins silver.🥈#Taekwondo | #Olympics | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/zojfa1wgGD
"I'm very happy to have won my first Olympic gold medal ... It's just incredible what's happening tonight, especially in Paris in front of the French public," Laurin told reporters.
"It was very intense to hear all the people ... I'm not necessarily used to that, so discovering the atmosphere was quite something and in the end I got used to it really well. I acclimatised like crazy," she said.
Laurin's victory brings comfort to the French team, after the shock ousting of her teammate and top contender Magda Wiet-Henin in women's welterweights on Friday.
Laurin, who took bronze in Tokyo three years ago, dominated her opponents, winning all of her bouts in two rounds.
To reach the finals, she notably beat Turkey's 2023 world champion in the +73 kg class Nafia Kus Aydin, who won bronze, along with South Korea's Lee Da-bin.
In the men's contest, Iran's Arian Salimi won gold by beating Britain's Caden Cunningham 3-6 9-1 6-3. Cuba's Rafael Alba and Ivory Coast's Cheick Sallah Cisse claimed bronze.
In a stunning display of skill and determination, the 21-year-old Cunningham secured a place in the final by toppling three seasoned Olympic medallists in a row.
Cunningham began by overcoming Niger's Abdoul Issoufou, the Rio 2016 silver medallist, in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, he dispatched Alba, who won silver in Tokyo.
Cisse, known as the "Man of Rio" for securing Ivory Coast's first-ever Olympic gold medal, was the last to fall.
"(These are) three guys I've wanted to fight for a while," the British fighter said after defeating Cisse, 30. "Three world champions there, three Olympic medalists. So, good fights, but I made sure I was the one who would come out on top."
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