Beijing: China's Zhang Juanjuan broke one of the Olympics' tightest strangleholds on Thursday by upsetting South Korean defending champion Park Sung-Hyun to win the individual archery gold medal.
Few expected her to do it with Korean women archers winning every Olympic gold since Seo Hyang-Soon first stepped up and took the title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
But roared on by a raucous home crowd, Zhang beat Park 110-109 in a tense final on a rainswept course for a famous victory.
The bronze went to Yun Ok-Hee also of South Korea, who was desperate to win a medal for her coach Moon Hyung-Cgul who is fighting thyroid cancer.
Zhang beat all three South Koreans on her way to the title, setting a new Olympic record of 115 in her semi-final against world record holder Yun.
"I have won honour for all archers in China and I believe the future will be brighter," said Zhang.
"I dreamed I could win a gold medal every day. I was well prepared. It was a hard journey but I finally made it. The solidarity and the trust within the team led to my success. I really did believe I could win."
Zhang needed to shoot a nine on her final arrow to win, but said she never doubted she could do it.
"I was quite confident," she said. "I shot the last arrow with no hesitation because I was confident."
Park put a brave face on missing out on gold, but vowed to use the disappointment as motivation for her next big event.
"I think silver is just as good as gold. However, it would be a lie to say there are no regrets," she said.
"The silver makes me crave gold more next time, so it's a good experience."
Her teammate Yun said she was now targeting the London Olympics in 2012.
"Third place falls short of my expectations but I will work hard for the 2012 Olympics and at that time I will probably be able to win more than a bronze," she said.
South Korea earlier won both the men's and women's team gold medals.
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