Molfetta wins Olympic gold in men's plus-80K

Molfetta wins Olympic gold in men's plus-80K

Published Aug. 11, 2012 7:03 p.m. ET

Carlo Molfetta of Italy won the Olympic taekwondo gold medal in the men's heavyweight division Saturday.

Molfetta was awarded the victory by decision after he and Anthony Obame of Gabon fought a tense final that was still tied after an overtime round. Obame's silver is Gabon's first Olympic medal.

The 28-year-old Molfetta is a police officer in Rome and has twice won silver at the world championships. He fought strategically on Saturday, jumping to land head kicks on his taller opponents and ducking out of the way before counter-attacking others.

The bronze medals were won by Robelis Despaigne of Cuba and Liu Xiaobo of China.

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