Turkey wins its first Olympic gold in Beijing

He won Turkey's first gold medal at the Beijing Summer Olympics, beating Andriy Stadnik of Ukraine in the final.

Sahin, who had World and European championships, beat Andriy Stadnik of Ukraine by points in a tightly contested final.

"We know each other very well," Sahin said. "We all fight for the gold and I got the gold."

Sahin scored first when he rolled over the Ukrainian, a financier in his day job, for two exposure points.

But with pole vaulting great Sergey Bubka rooting for his countryman from the stands, Stadnik fought back with two takedowns to draw level at the end of the first period.

Sahin pushed Stadnik out and added a gut wrench to win the second period, in which the Ukrainian replied with one takedown.

In the last period the Turk scored two reversal points to Stadnik's two takedowns.

"He's a very good fighter," Stadnik said.