ATHENS, Aug. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Capping four days of the Olympic taekwondo competitions, Moon Dab Sung of South Korea Sunday clinched the gold in men's over 80kg category in Athens after knocking out Alexandros Nikolaidis of Greece with one minute left in the first round.

    "I'm happy that I managed to beat an opponent like Nikolaidis in front of such a passionate crowd," Moon told reporters.

    "The moment when my opponent was not so focused on his defence,since he was attacking, was when I made the crucial blow," he added.

    During the final, with just 50.6 seconds to go in the first round, Moon quickly kicked Nikolaidis with a roundhouse to the body after the two had tactically moved around without scoring until the kick from Moon.

    When Nikolaidis came to his senses, he was overcome with what had happened.

    "It was a tough moment when he made the kick," said Nikolaidis."Unfortunately I didn't block him."

    "I'm disappointed because I knew all Greeks wanted me to win this gold medal," he added. "I trained hard for it, so right now, I cannot be happy with the silver medal."

    This win repeated South Korea's success four years ago at Sydney 2000 when Kim Kyong Hun then won the inaugural Taekwondo Olympic over 80kg title.

    The bronze went to Pascal Gentil of France, who defeated Ibrahim Kamal of Jordan 6-2.

    "The bronze medal wasn't exactly what I wanted from this tournament," Gentil said. "But it is still an Olympic medal and it's very important."

    Moon Dab Sung, 27 years old, won a gold in heavyweight over 84kg category at World Championships in 1999 in Edmonton, Canada, but finished fifth four years later in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

    Moon defeated Gentil of France on points (5-3) in the semifinal,scoring one point in round one, two points in round two and two inthree.

    During another semifinal, Nikolaidis beat Jordan's Kamal on points (6-3), scoring two points in each of the three rounds.

    Nikolaidis, a fireman with hobbies of basketball and playing guitar, has been coached under South Korean Oh Young Joo since 2000. He suffered from a fractured shin at the Sydney Games and was out of competition for two years.

    Beginning taekwondo in 1982, the 24-year-old Nikolaidis trains two or three times per day and expects to become a national team coach. Enditem