BEIJING - Zhong Man ignited the home crowd Tuesday night, as all Chinese people here in the Olympic Fencing Hall roared for their sencond Olympic fencing gold medal in 24 years.

Zhong Man of China celebrates his victory against Nicolas Lopez of France during their men's individual sabre fencing final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 12, 2008. [Agencies] More photos

The 25-year-old sabre fencer defeated Frenchman Nicolas Lopez 15-9 in men's sabre individual event final at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The gold medal came as China's second in its fencing history, after women foilist Luan Jujie won the first one at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

"I don't feel much pressure before the match. I would like to dedicate this supreme honor to my coach," Zhong said after the match.

"My French coach Chiristian Bauer offered tremendous help in improving my fencing skills. He is the best sabre coach in the world," he told a crowded press conference.

In the final bout, it was the silver medalist Lopez who scored the first point, but he was caught up seconds later and overtaken quickly. The two tied at 4-4, then the Frenchman dominated the fight for a while, which dropped the Chinese audience into sheer silence.

Zhong managed to level the score at 6-6. He fell behind again, then made it 9-9. Cheers from the stands never stopped after this moment, as Zhong thrust ed and slashed all the way on to 15-9, to the top podium and the realization of a long-awaited dream.

Even in earlier rounds, the "dark horse" has already surprised the home crowd by entering top eight, and made history by advancing to the semifinals.

"The further I went, the more relaxed I became. Maybe I won the medal because I don't have so much pressure as some other people do," said the new champion, who watched TV soap opera Tuesday afternoon to relax himself.

His coach Bauer attributed the success to the past two years of hard training. "He has reached an outstanding, European level," said the Frenchman.

His rival Lopez, though apparently disappointed with the results, called Zhong "today's best fencer." "He seemed to become more relaxed as the match went on," Lopez said.

Zhong, the 2008 Asian Championship winner in Bangkok and 2007/2008 World Cup gold medalist in Warsaw, said he just started to shine in international competitions in the past two years.

"Maybe that's why the opponents have paid much attention to me and havn't studied the characteristics of my fencing skills."

Commenting on the performance of China's women sabreur Tan Xue and men epeeist Wang Lei, both of whom had been medal hopefuls for the Chinese fencing team, Zhong said they failed to achieve good results partly due to the high pressure they bear during the competition.

"Maybe they were charged with so many people's hope, I think they just had too much pressure."

Born in Nantong, in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, Zhong started his athletics life as a runner.

"A fencing coach in Nantong noticed me and thought I could be trained as a fencer," he said. However, his parents wouldn't allow him to take on this sport in the beginning, arguing that the intensive training could affect his schooling.

"But I insisted, and carried on. I'm happy with what I have achieved today and wish the gold medal could help promote the sport of fencing in China," Zhong said. The choice has now proved good for himself, and good for the country.