Argentina Wins its First Gold Medal in London 2012 · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

This post is part of our special coverage London 2012 Olympics.
On Friday, August 10, Argentina celebrated its first gold medal in the London Olympics; Sebastian Crismanich [es], born in the Corrientes province, competed in the 80 kilogram category in Taekwondo, beating Spain's representative Nicolás Garcia Hamme 1-0.
In Argentina, the hashtag #Crismanich [es] became a trending topic, and users expressed their happiness as well as their surprise for this achievement in a sport that is not as popular as other sports, like football. Among several tweets, Nico Fernandez (@nicolinoribas) [es] writes:
@nicolinoribas: Ahora son todos fanáticos del Taekwondo. No rompan las pelotas. Hace 12 horas no sabían ni que competía #Crismanich.  Hipócritas.
@nicolinoribas: Now everyone if a fan of Taekwondo. Yeah right. 12 hours ago no one knew that #Crismanich was competing. Hypocrites.
Similarly, Jose (@vjosesc) [es] blames journalists for the lack of coverage:
@vjosesc: Hace 2 días no sabíamos que #Crismanich tenia posibilidades de ganar una medalla de oro. Falla de los periodistas que cubrieron los #JJOO .
@vjosesc: Two days ago we didn't know that #Crismanich had any chance of winning a gold medal. Journalists who cover the #JJOO [“Olympic games”] failed.
However, most users are expressing their joy over Crismanich's achievement, like Juancho (@kiddo72) [es], Perickles (@peripepe) [es] and Abel Racedo (@AbelRacedo) [es], among others.
Argentinian news agency Telam summarizes [es] this achievement and the history of gold medals for Argentina:
Crismanich, de 25 años, se erigió entonces en el primer medallista olímpico de la Argentina en la disciplina (que empezó a disputarse en Sydney 2000) y además cortó una racha de 64 temporadas en las que un argentino, en manera individual, no conseguía la medalla dorada.
Los boxeadores Pascual Pérez y Rafael Iglesias y el maratonista Delfo Cabrera, también en Londres, pero en 1948, habían sido los anteriores deportistas nacionales, en subir al escalón más alto de la premiación.
Crismanich, 25 years old, emerged as the first gold medalist for Argentina in the discipline (which began to be played in Sydney 2000) and also ended a 64 season streak in which an Argentine, on an individual basis, had not gotten a gold medal.
Boxers Pascual Pérez and Rafael Iglesias, and marathoner Delfo Cabrera, also in London, but in 1948, were the former national athletes to climb to the top of the medal podium.
This post is part of our special coverage London 2012 Olympics.