Germany's Kleibrink wins men's foil gold at Beijing Olympic Games. [Xinhua]

Benjamin Philip Kleibrink won the first gold medal in men's individual foil for Germany at the Beijng Olympics held on Wednesday.

"I am so happy that I can win the gold medal in my first Olympics, which will be written into the history. I have a lot of fun," said the champion at the post-match press conference.

The 23-year-old made the breakthrough by defeating Japanese Ota Yuki 15-9. Benjamin opened the scoring at 1-0, and managed to widen the gap to 14-6. Ota Yuki caught up by 3 points in a row, but it was too late for him to turn the table after the German launched the critical thrust to tie the score at 15-9.

Italian veteran Sanzo Salvatore outscored China's top seed Zhu Jun by 15-14 to take the bronze.

Benjamin said he felt a bit fatigued at this moment. "It always takes time to take in the victory and understand what was happening. I feel superb that I am the Olympic winner," he said.

The gold medalist also expressed his gratitude to his coach. "I have being working with my coach for five years, and it is he who makes me become a big fencer. He's a very strong trainer."

Benjamin made it to the final after beating Chinese Lei Sheng in the quarters and Zhu Jun in the semis.

"In the semifinals, I almost took a sweeping win of Zhu Jun, who was probably dazzled by the atmosphere. But he has already succeeded by entering the semifinals," he said.

Britta Heidemann added one fencing gold for Germany in the women's individual epee, which was also held on Wednesday evening.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)