Spain’s Gonzalez wins men’s taekwondo -58kg gold

Double world champion Joel Gonzalez of Spain added Olympic gold to his collection as he beat South Korea’s Lee Dae-Hoon in the men’s under-58kg taekwondo final on Wednesday.

World champion Lee had come down from the non-Olympic under-63kg category to compete in London but went down 17-8.

In a low-scoring bronze medal contest Russia’s Alexey Denisenko beat Safwan Khalil of Australia 3-1.

The second bronze medal went to Oscar Munoz of Colombia who successfully challenged a last second three-point kick to beat Thailand’s Pen-Ek Karaket 6-4.

Gonzalez struck first in the opening round of the final, connecting with a three-point head kick to open up a 5-2 lead.

That was thanks to his coach’s quick thinking as the score had not originally been given but was challenged by the Spanish camp and awarded after a video review.

Lee had closed the gap with two unanswered points until a flurry of late kicks in the second round saw Gonzalez extend his lead to 8-4.

In the final round a brutal axe-kick that connected with Lee’s mouth, sending him crashing to the canvas and drawing blood, provided the final nail in the Korean’s coffin.

His camp made a hopeful challenge, claiming a three-point head kick for him, but that was rejected and his lingering hopes of victory died.

It was a great evening for Spain as Brigitte Yague also took silver in the women’s under-49kg category.