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South Korea earns its 2nd gold in Olympic taekwondo in Rio

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Oh Hyeri of South Korea celebrates after winning a women’s Taekwondo 67-kg final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

RIO DE JANEIRO >> The country that created taekwondo can still dominate.

Oh Hye-ri won the women’s 67-kilogram division at the Olympics on Friday, giving South Korea its second gold medal of the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Oh beat top-seeded Haby Niare of France in the final. Although Oh didn’t score until the second round, she quickly landed numerous head shots within about 30 seconds to win 13-12.

The 28-year-old Oh also dominated her quarterfinal match against Chuang Chia-Chia of Taiwan, a fight that was stopped after Oh racked up an insurmountable 21-9 lead.

Oh previously competed in a heavier weight division, winning a world championship title.

The other South Korean to win Olympic gold in taekwondo at the Rio Games was Kim So-hui, who earned the title in the women’s light flyweight division on Wednesday. The country, which won only one gold medal at the 2012 London Games, has also earned two bronze medals in taekwondo.

Ruth Gbagbi of the Ivory Coast and Nur Tatar of Turkey won the bronze medals on Friday.

In the men’s event, Cheick Sallah Sisse won the 80-kilogram division by beating Lutalo Muhammad of Britain in the final, giving the Ivory Coast its first Olympic gold medal.

The third-seeded Sisse took the lead in the last second, landing a spinning kick just as the match ended to win 8-6.

Sisse ran to the stands, jumped a barrier and waved to the cheering crowd.

The bronze medals went Oussama Oueslat of Tunisia and Milad Beigi Harchgani of Azerbaijan.

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