BEIJING (AP) -Wang Jiao, competing only because of an injury to the 2004 champion, won the women's 72-kilogram wrestling gold medal for China by pinning favorite Stanka Zlateva of Bulgaria with one second remaining in the first period Sunday.

Zlateva won the last two world championships, only to be dropped to the mat with about 30 seconds remaining in the period. Wang kept lifting, shoving, and maneuvering once she shot her there, finally pushing Zlateva's shoulders to the mat at 1:59 of the first.

Wang, despite her ascension from reserve to Olympic champion, showed little emotion on the mat - perhaps because she couldn't believe her own story. The pro-Chinese crowd in China Agriculture University gymnasium didn't hold back, unfurling flags while singing and cheering loud enough to cause an audible rattle in the building's metal roof.

Cheers that Wang probably wouldn't heard if Athens gold medalist Wang Xu hadn't injured a shoulder. Wang didn't learn until July 25 she would wrestle.

"Everybody knows Wang Xu was the 2004 Olympic champion,'' Wang Jiao said. "When I was placed on the national team for the Olympic Games, I did not set too high a goal. I only wanted for the people to get to know me.''

They know her now - including Zlateva, who acknowledged it was awkward wrestling the match of her life against an opponent she barely knew, a disadvantage for developing any strategy.

"When you are the Olympic champion, you did your job very well - perfect,'' said a teary-eyed Zlateva, who was so upset at losing she initially pushed her way past Bulgarian reporters and wouldn't talk after the medal ceremony.

Wang, only months removed from wrestling against teenagers, was admittedly nervous when the one-day tournament started, although it hardly showed. She beat Sweden's Jenny Fransson 4-3, 6-0 and Ali Bernard of the United States 3-1, 7-3, then outmuscled five-time world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi of Japan 5-2, 3-0. She didn't lose a period all day.

"I wasn't thinking too much of my opponents,'' said Wang, who worried more about her own preparation than developing a strategy for each match. "I was thinking how to perform on my own side.''

The bronzes were won by Hamaguchi and Agnieszka Wieszczek of Poland. Hamaguchi defeated Bernard 3-0, 3-1 for Japan's fourth medal - two golds, a silver and her bronze - in the four women's weight classes.

But the Japanese still haven't solved the Chinese at heavyweight, no matter who is on the mat.

Something else was on Wang's mind: Trying to sell her sport to a wider audience in a massive country that is learning to love winning Olympic golds but has yet to embrace women's wrestling.

"I wanted to help the Chinese people know and appreciate the sport, so I was trying to do my best,'' she said.

She had no trouble selling the strength of Chinese wrestling to the rest of the world.

"All the Chinese are very strong,'' said Hamaguchi, who failed for the second Olympics in a row to produce the gold medal she was under considerable pressure to deliver in 2004. "They compete, and they compete very strong.''