PARIS: South Korea's Kim Yu-jin won the Olympic gold medal in the women's taekwondo featherweight (under 57kg) division, swiftly beating Iran's Nahid Kiyanichandeh in a show of strength for her country.
Kim's victory brings the number of gold medals in taekwondo at the Paris Olympics to two for South Korea, after Park Tae-Joon won gold in the men's taekwondo flyweight division on Wednesday.
South Korea had failed to win a medal at the previous Tokyo Games.
Kim defeated Kiyanichandeh in two rounds, 5-1 9-0, a humbling score for the Iranian fighter who holds the world title in her class.
"I am so proud to be a member of the Olympics, and it's my first Olympics, so it's quite meaningful for me," Kim said.
"Preparing for the Olympics, the exercise and all the training is quite hard, but I tried to be calm during the Games and I think this (is the biggest) reason why I gained the gold medal."
Kiyanichandeh did not manage to get one kick through and lost six points over the two rounds in penalties, called Gam-jeom, while Kim secured victory with three kicks to the body and one to the head.
Kim, 23, had arrived ranked number 9 at the 2022 World Championship in her category.
Kiyanichandeh becomes the first Iranian woman to win silver at the Olympics in taekwondo, surpassing Iran's first Olympic medallist and former teammate, Kimia Alizadeh, who fled her homeland four years ago.
Kiyanichandeh defeated Alizadeh, who was given refugee status in Germany after leaving Iran in January 2021, in the round-of-16, her first bout at the Paris Games.
Now fighting under the Bulgarian national banner, Alizadeh made it through repechage and secured a second bronze medal, the first Olympic taekwondo medal ever won by her new home country.
"This medal is not just for me. I had an opportunity to represent refugees, and I want to give this medal to all the refugees around the world," Alizadeh said.
"I hope it was a little bit of light for them."
The event was also marked by the shock defeat of British two-time Olympic champion Jade Jones, who was ousted by North Macedonia's Olympic debutant Miljana Reljikj in the round-of-16.
Canada's Skylar Park won the other bronze medal.