Aug 9, 2008, 12:31 GMT
Beijing - Choi Minho made his parents' and his own dream come true on Saturday when he won judo gold for South Korea at the Beijing Olympics.
The 2003 world champion Choi floored the reigning European champion Ludwig Paischer of Austria with a decisive ippon throw 2 minutes 14 seconds into the final of the men's 60-kilos category.
Minho had required just four seconds to beat Dutchman Ruben Houkes in the semi-finals while Paischer advanced to the gold medal match over Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan.
Houkes and Sobirov both got bronze medals.
Minho later revealed that his parents had recently dreamed of a big moment.
'I want to tell my mother. Before I came to Beijing my mother had a dream that a lot of people came to our house to say congratulations to Minho. My father said he also had a dream, that 'the sun shone from his heart.'
'I can't believe that the dreams have come true,' said Choi, who improved from his bronze medal finish 2004 in Athens.
'I trained very hard and sometimes I felt very exhausted. But when I felt tired I just thought I wanted to achieve my Olympic dream,' he said.
Earlier, four-time reigning European champion Alina Dumitru of Romania also won inside the full distance as her ippon after 1:20 minutes against Yanet Bermoy of Cuba clinched the women's 48kg gold.
Paula Pareto of Argentina and Japan's Ryoko Tani took bronze.
Your Talkback on this Story