London 2012 fencing: A Lam Shin was defeated by German Britta Heidemann

South Korea's Shin A-lam reacts after a women's individual epee fencing semifinals match against Germany's Britta Heidemann July 30, in London.

Dmitry Lovetsky/AP 

The women's London 2012 fencing individual epee semi-finals took a dramatic – and emotional – turn this afternoon at the end of the match between South Korea and Germany.

The match between A Lam Shin of South Korea and Britta Heimann of Germany was deadlocked 5-5, when Heimann finally won 6-5 in overtime. 

South Korea contested Heimann's last point, saying that it was actually won after the end of the match, and submitted a written appeal to the judges. Meanwhile, Shin, refusing to leave ExCel stadium, sat weeping on the floor for more than 15 minutes while the judges ruled on the appeal.

South Korea lost the appeal.

But the appeal forced the gold metal match between Heimann and Ukrainian Yana Shemyakina to be delayed and then rescheduled to 3:40 p.m. (EDT).

The bronze metal match was also delayed, but not for long; Shin fenced against China's Yujie Sun but lost. Sun, who was ranked No. 1 in the world, took the bronze with a score of 15-11.