Angel Matos of Cuba and his coach Leudis Gonzalez have been banned for life after Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification. Gonzalez offered no apology for Matos' actions during the men's over-80kg match.
Matos was winning 3-2 in the second round when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov. He was sitting awaiting medical attention when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.
Matos, a gold medal winner at the Sydney Games in 2000, angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden. Matos was then escorted out. 'He was too strict,' Gonzalez said, referring to the decision to disqualify Matos. A World Taekwondo Federation statement said: 'This is a strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games.'
Elsewhere Maria del Rosario Espinoza of Mexico won the final in the over 67-kg category, beating Natalia Falavigna of Brazil. South Korea's Cha Dong-min won the men's over 80-kilogram class, beating Alexandros Nikolaidis of Greece.