Each semifinal loser faced the last remaining repechage competitor from the opposite half of the bracket in a bronze medal match.

However, only half the judges recorded the hit which was thus not registered, dashing Stevenson's olympic hopes of gaining her the two points that would have secured her a quick victory.

The British team protested for over an hour and on seeing the clear video footage of the strike to the face, unprecedently in the sport of Taekwondo, the judges decision was repealed and it was Stevenson who went through to the semi-finals against María del Rosario Espinoza of Mexico.

On announcing the change of result in the quarter-final, the tournament director said: "The competition supervisory board has looked into this matter deeply, has made video analysis which has been open to all the referees and judges.

In applying paragraph two of page 64 of the competition rules of the World Taekwondo Federation we have to change this result and we have to declare the British player as winner.