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Korea Ranks 7th in Gold Race
By Kang Seung-wooStaff Reporter
South Korea's Son Tae-jin and Lim Su-jeong claimed gold medals in taekwondo at the Beijing Olympics Thursday.
Son defeated American Mark Lopez 3-2 in the men's under 68-kilogram final, while Lim edged Turkey's Azize Tanrikulu 1-0 in the women's under 57 kilograms.
Adding two gold medals to its tally, South Korea has 10 golds to rank seventh in the gold medal standings. Korea also has 10 silver and six bronze medals.
Host China leads with 45 golds and was followed by the United States with 27 as of Thursday.
After the score was tied 2-2 in the final round, Son, a 20-year-old, scored one point on a kick with three seconds left.
Lim, who turned 22 Wednesday, was deducted one point for a penalty in the opening round of her match, but evened the match in the second round against Tanrikulu, who beat favored Diana Lopez of the United States in the quarterfinals.
In the final round, Lim's back kick landed on Tanrikulu, giving the senior of the Kyunghee University a gold medal.
With those victories, South Korea has collected seven Olympic golds in taekwondo since the sport was introduced at the Summer Games in 2000.
Controversial officiating hurt South Korea in a 29-28 loss against Norway in the women's handball semifinals.
South Korea, which won handball golds in 1988 and 1992, tied the match 28-28 with six seconds remaining, but Norway's Gro Hammerseng fired a shot that went into the goal at the buzzer and the referees counted the score.
South Korean coach Lim Young-chul and his staff argued the call, only to be ignored by the officials.
According to a handball rule, a goal is counted when the ball crosses the goal line before the buzzer, and a video replay showed the shadow of the ball had not crossed the line before time expired.
The South Koreans stayed on the court for about 20 minutes after the match to protest.
Korea, which won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games, will play either Russia or Hungary for the bronze medal Saturday.
ksw@koreatimes.co.kr
