A female athlete who wept uncontrollably and staged an hour-long protest after being cheated in her event will get a special medal, according to the sport’s world governing body.

Shin A-lam of South Korea had on Monday lost in a controversial manner to Germany’s Britta Heidemann in the Olympic epee semi-final and had to be physically escorted off the fencing piste about an hour into her one-woman protest. To further compound her misery, Shin yesterday lost to China’s Sun Yujie in the bronze medal match.

However, when it seemed that she would go home empty-handed, fencing’s world governing body, FIE, which earlier yesterday declared in a statement that the technical director’s decision was final, changed its position later in the day, announcing that it had offered Shin a special medal having become convinced that she was cheated in the semi-final.

“The FIE (Federation International d’Escrime) will give an FIE medal to Shin A-Lam,” a spokesman said, according to a Yahoo! Sport report. “It will probably occur during the Olympics,” the spokesman added.

*Photo, courtesy of Yahoo! Sport, shows Shin during her hour-long protest.