Olympedia – Heavyweight (>80 kilograms), Men

The final came down to the 2004 silver medalist, Greece’s Alexandros Nikolaidis, against the unknown Korean, Cha Dong-Min. But as they prepared for their match, Cuba’s Ángel Matos, the 2000 welterweight gold medalist, faced Kazakhstan’s Arman Chilmanov, 2007 World Championship middleweight bronze medalist, for a bronze medal. Matos led late in the second round, when he took an injury time-out. But while recovering, he was disqualified by Swedish referee Chakir Chelbat, who felt that Matos had taken too much time. This was not well received by Matos or his coach, Leodis González, who vociferously protested the call. Matos then kicked Chelbat in the face before he had to be escorted out by security. Matos’s disqualification was upheld, and he and his coach were further given lifetime bans from the sport for their behavior.

After that episode the final was anticlimactic. Nikolaidis took an early lead, but Cha evened the match in the final round and then won the gold medal with a late kick. Although Cha was unknown in 2008, he won a World Championship silver as a middleweight in 2011, and won titles in heavyweight at the 2009 East Asian Games and the 2012 Asian Championships.