Matteo Tagliariol of Italy celebrates his victory against Fabrice Jeannet of France after their men's individual epee fencing final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 10, 2008. [Agencies]

Tagliariol, ranked number three in the world, started the final bout with a lead which he managed to keep till the end.  After accomplishing his winning hit in a very steadfast manner, the gold medalist jumped into a cheering crowd of his fellow Italians.

"It feels like in a dream, it's something incredible and today is my happiest day in life," Tagliariol said at a press conference held after the match.

The fencing gold was Italy's first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Tagliariol played down the significance of his medal being the first for his country and said he wished to see more gold medals in the following days.

The epeeist also mentioned that epee is currently less popular than foil and sabre in Italy, but added that the young and promising athletes participating in epee could make it a mainstream sport in the future.

Tagliariol also called his rival Jeannet as a great fencer, and said "I won just because today is a better day for me."

On his part, the silver medal winner Jeannet said that "I'm not inferior in skills, I lost the bout as I failed to grasp the opportunities. I'm disappointed with the result."

The bronze medal went to Spaniard Jose Luis Abajo who beat Hungarian player Gabor Boczko 8-7.