South Korea's Park Tae-hwan Sunday grabbed the first Olympic swimming gold for his country by winning the men's 400-meter freestyle competition of the Beijing Games.
South Korea, whose best finish in Olympic swimming had been seventh in Athens four years ago, now has two gold medals to rank second in the medal standings, tying with China. South Korea won a gold in the men's 60-kilogram judo event a day earlier.
Park, who came in with a time of 3:41.86, raised his arms in joy and pointed to the scoreboard following the completion of his race, then turned to hug U.S. swimmer Larsen Jensen, who finished in 3:42.78 for the bronze.
Chinese Zhang Lin won the silver for the host country by finishing in 3:42.44.
Park sprang forward halfway through the race, surging ahead of several others who had vied for the lead in the first 200 meters. Park's gold became apparent in the final 100 when he consolidated his lead by storming away from his competitors.
"I didn't have any specific strategy. I thought at first I shouldn't lag behind the other swimmers too much, so I could keep pace with the others," Park was quoted as saying by Yonhap News. "It is a good result, and thanks to the support of our people, I have tried my best."
Holding his arms high and gesturing toward his family and Korean supporters in the audience, the 19-year-old swimming sensation beamed a smile and waved a flower from the podium at the Water Cube.
With the gold around his neck, Park then marched around the pool to greet his supporters and threw the flower into the audience in a show of gratitude.
"I think it is my parents," Park said, asked whom he would like to thank the most.