Jang Ji Won clinched the first taekwondo gold medal for the sport's traditional powerhouse South Korea at the Athens Olympics in Athens on August 27 in the women's 57kg final.

Jang, gold medalist of the 2001 Cheju world championships, edged American Nia Abdallah, who did not have any top-three results in the past three years, 2-1 in the three-round duel.

Jang, 25, led 1-0 in the first round and 4-0 in the second. However, she received several kyongos in the third round and lost two points. The American earned one point at last.

Jang said,"I had not been selected into the South Korean team for the Sydney Olympics, which made me so upset in quite a long time."

"But I did not give up. I won the chance in Athens through extremely hard trainings. I am very very happy now," She added.

Iridia Blanco of Mexico beat Sonia Reyes from Spain, who came to the bronze medal fight from repechage, 2-1 to take the third place.