National Hero

               National Hero

11^th August 2012, whatever what happens, this date will stay in the Gabonese sport history. Taekwondo fighter Anthony Obame made history as he won Gabon’s first ever medal in the Olympic Games. Anthony Obame celebrates winning Gabon’s first Olympic medal. The heavyweight taekwondo expert took the silver medal after losing out on the top spot to Italy’s Carlo Molfetta. Obame had looked the favourite to win the match as he led 9-6 with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

However, Molfetta then caught him with a three-point head kick which took the match to sudden death. The golden score round also failed to find a winner and the gold was eventually decided by the judges’ scorecards. Any disappointment at not winning gold was soon forgotten as the West African nation celebrated their first medal, with President Ali Bongo calling to personally congratulate Obame. ‘I think it’s a good start for us. We have to try to get more medals in the future,’ the sportsman said. ‘For now it’s just me, but I hope that other people from Gabon will win medals at other Olympic Games and have the same success as me. ‘I tried to go for the gold, but he was more experienced than me. He is the 2010 European champion. I hope to come back in the future and do better.’

So close to gold
Molfetta may be the new champion but there is no doubt it was Obame who touched the hearts of everyone inside the ExCel Arena. And he could not have come any closer to winning the gold medal.Leading 9-6 with little time left he seemed to be overcome by nerves and stopped attacking.
Molfetta caught him with a three-point kick to the head to level up the scores and was then the more aggressive during the extra period of golden point.

Unlikely run to the final
Yet Obame's achievement was still much the greater. His unlikely run to the final began with a 7-2 defeat of Samoa's Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga in the first round. And after drawing 6-6 with Robelis Despaigne of Cuba he snatched the victory with a golden.

In the semi-final he stunned Tanrikulu with a last-second kick for a narrow 3-2 win. He trailed Tanrikulu, the silver medallist in Athens eight years ago, by two points at the end of the first round but a point in the second and another in the third levelled matters before his last-gasp winning kick.

Youthful error
Although he made history, Obame felt he should have had the gold. "I'm relieved because not all competitors got a medal and I really wanted to come back [to Gabon] with a medal but not any medal, a gold medal," he said. "But I couldn't manage that against a very experienced Italian. He had me on a youthful error but I hope to come back stronger next time."

Obame was most frustrated at failing to hold onto his lead late in the third and final round. "It was at this very moment that he seized his opportunities because I was already imagining myself as a gold medallist. I think I was dreaming because I was leading and I got caught. It's true I didn't lose on points but on a judge’s decision. That cost me dearly. If I'd have kept the scoring and tempo from the beginning it would have been me the Olympic champion." 

Eager to go home
Even so, the 23-year-old said he was eager to go home and see what reception he gets.
"I realise what I've done, I admit it. But to be honest it hasn't sunk in yet because I'm not in my country and I'm surrounded by athletes and people congratulating me. It's often like that but maybe not with the same energy. It's often been like that but we'll see when I get back."