PARIS, France (Aug. 8, 2024) - The first golds of the Paris 2024 Olympics Taekwondo competition were won in highly dramatic fashion by Korea in the M-58kg and by Thailand in the W-49kg categories.
Silvers went to Azerbaijan in the men’s, and China in the women’s. Bronzes were won by France and Tunisia in the men’s, and Iran and Croatia in the women’s.
At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the city has been the stadium, and the Taekwondo venue deserves special mention. The antique, glass-roofed Grand Palais, with an 8,000-strong crowd stacked above the field of play, is arguably the finest location elite Taekwondo has ever been played in.
The athletes rose to the occasion - and after the silence of the audience-free Tokyo 2020 competition, the Paris crowd raised the roof.
In the breaks, the WT Demo Team performed to massive applause. And in a sport showcase, a Mixed Gender Team competition was fought between France and China, with China winning.
M-58kg
This final featured a perfect pair of warriors. Both are bouncy, attacking players, with wide technical arsenals and ambidextrous kicks. Both are Olympic debutants.
Taejoon Park, one of the brightest young hopes of Team Korea, is the 2023 World Champion and the winner of the Manchester 2022 Grand Prix. Azerbaijan’s Gashim Magomedov is a star from nowhere: prior to today, the biggest win in his career had been silver at the World Youths in 2019.
In the preliminaries, both delivered consistently exciting matches.
Battle commenced. The Korean scored first. Both athletes fought, fast, from springy, tigerish crouches. Then, disaster: The Azeri hit the deck after a sharp but accidental lower-leg impact. He rose after a medical intervention, but in pain.
Park’s kick rate rose as he elevated his score to 7-0. The Azeri was suffering: Medics taped his shin on the FOP. He continued, but at the end of the round – won by Park – he had to be helped off by his coach.
To some surprise, Magomedov came out for Round 2. Park stabbed forward, applying kick pressure and fighting physically, in-close. The Azeri appealed a head kick: Rejected.
Park scored a knockdown with a back kick to the head. 10-1 up, he attacked, driving Magomedov out of the area, ploughing him into the mats. Another medical intervention; this time, the Azeri was unable to continue, granting Park gold.
The Korean dropped to his knees and embraced his downed opponent. Subsequently, Park assisted Magomedov onto the medal podium.
To the delight of the home crowd, Cyrian Ravet of France had lifted the first bronze without a match: Tokyo 2020 Champion Vito Dell Aquila of Italy had withdrawn.
The second bronze match pitted Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia against Spain’s Adrian Vicente Yunta. It was a rough affair, with the referee working overtime and the Spaniard frustrated as Jendoubi’s high kicks lit up the board. The Tunisian took the win, 2-0.
W-49kg
This final would be a very different matchup from the mens’ final: Established Taekwondo legend against up-and-comer.
Thailand’s Panipak Wongpattanakit is the defending Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, having taken bronze in Rio. A double world champ, she holds a record 13 Grand Prix golds, making her perhaps the most formidable fighter in Paris in any category.
Her opponent, Qing Gao, is a young gun of Team China, one of the sport’s most formidable squads. Holder of three Grand Prix medals, Paris is her first Olympics.
Round 1: Gao opened the score with a high kick, but the Thai found her range and struck back twice, taking Round 1, 6-3. In the second, Gao played a cagey, hard-to-hit game. A last-second IVR from Wongpattanakit was rejected. With Gao taking Round 2, Round 3 would be the decider.
30 seconds left and no points. Soaring tension. The Thai kicked high. IVR. The closeness of her kick on camera drew gasps from the crowd. Awarded! 25 seconds to play. Another Thai high kick! Another IVR! Another win! Gao attacked as the seconds counted down, but it was a 6-2 Thai victory. The crowd exploded.
Wongpattanakit – who has vowed to retire, post-Paris – embraced her coach and fell to her knees, weeping.
In the first bronze medal match, Saudi Arabia’s Dunya Ali M Abutaleb battled Iran’s Mobina Nematzadeh. Round 1 was slow paced – then the Iranian scored in the final seconds with an axe kick. Similarly, a spectacular scorpion kick in the dying moments of Round 2 gave Namatzadeh the win and the bronze.
The second match saw Türkiye’s Merve Dincel Kavurat take on Croatia’s Lena Stojkovic. Round 1 saw fierce, long-range play, but just one point on the board – for Stojkovic. The Croatian continued dominating in Round 2, winning round, match and medal, 5-3.
Tomorrow, the W-57kg and M-68kg will be contested. Stay tuned!
