¡°Little Giant¡± wins gold in wrestling; Korea moves to 11th place

¡°Little Giant'' Sim Kwon-Ho of South Korea Tuesday became the first Korean wrestler to capture the gold medal in two consecutive Olympics.

Sim overwhelmed Cuba's Lazaro Rivas 8-0 in the men's 54kg Greco-Roman wrestling finals to win the gold medal in the Sydney Olympic Games. He was the champion in the 48kg class in the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Sim also achieved grand slams both in the 48kg and 54kg classes by sweeping the Olympics, Asian Games, World Championships and Asian Championships.

His gold medal lifted Korea to the 11th place in the medal standings with five gold, six silver and eight bronze medals.

In the final match at the Exhibition Hall in Darling Harbor, Sim stormed in to score eight points successively in his sole passive chance, displaying his brilliant techniques and stopping Rivas, the 1999 world champion in the category.

In the consolation match, Kang Yong-Gyun of North Korea beat his Ukrainian counterpart 7-0 for the bronze medal, the third medal North Korean has won so far in the Games.