After a heartbreaking ‘gold’ at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the ‘dominant’ Korean taekwondo team will begin its quest for gold in Paris.
The taekwondo schedule for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games kicks off on July 7 at 4 p.m. with the men’s 58-kilogram qualification event. The venue will be the Grand Palais, a famous Parisian venue that hosted the fencing competition from last month 27 to this month 4.
After the men’s 58kg and women’s 49kg events on July 7, the men’s 68kg and women’s 57kg events will take place at 4 p.m. on July 8.
The men’s 80kg and women’s 67kg and the men’s and women’s heaviest weight classes, 80kg and 67kg, will follow at 4pm on the 9th and 10th.
Park Tae-joon (Kyung Hee University) will lead Korea in the global taekwondo competition, which will include eight weight classes over four days.
Korea is the favorite to win the gold medal and hopes to start a ‘golden vein’.
Park, who will be competing in his first Olympic Games, raised expectations in February when he defeated Jang Jun (Korea Gas Corp.), one of the country’s taekwondo aces, in a qualifier.
He was ranked fifth in the world for Olympic competition by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) in June, just before the Games. He is the second highest ranked Korean athlete in this weight class after Jang Jun (3rd).
South Korea has yet to win a gold medal in this weight class. “Taekwondo star” Lee Dae-hoon won a silver medal at London 2012, while Kim Tae-hoon and Jang Jun won bronze medals at Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Next up for Park will be Kim Yoo-jin (Ulsan Metropolitan Sports Association).
After the twists and turns of the road to the continental qualifiers, Kim booked Korea’s final berth and will be aiming for a medal in the women’s 57-kilogram category on March 8.
This is the weight class where Korea has won three gold medals.
From the Sydney 2000 Games, the first time taekwondo was included as an official sport, Jung Jae-eun won the gold medal, followed by Jang Ji-won and Lim Soo-soo at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
But since then, none of them have brought home a medal. Kim Yoo-jin will be the first Korean to win a medal in this weight class in 16 years.
On August 9, Korea’s “heavyweight hope” Seo Gun-woo (Korea National Gymnastics Team) will be in action.
Seo punched his ticket to Paris by winning the WT World Grand Prix Final in December last year.
He defeated Simone Alessio (ITA), Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Salih Elsharabati (JORD) and bronze medalist Seif Eisa (EGYPT), and will be full of confidence heading into the tournament.
South Korea has never sent an athlete to compete in the men’s 80-kilogram category.
In the early years, the country’s Olympic taekwondo entries were limited to the light and middle weight divisions, where it had a greater chance of medaling, but in recent years it has repeatedly failed to qualify due to the global leveling of talent.
On the final day, Aug. 11, Lee Da-bin (Seoul Metropolitan Government) will attempt a career grand slam in the women’s 67-kilogram super-underweight category.
Lee has already won the World Championships, Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2019, so she only needs to add an Olympic gold medal to complete a four-tournament grand slam.
In her first attempt, at the Tokyo Olympics, she was hampered by injuries and had to settle for a hard-fought silver medal. Remembering the pain, Idabin set her sights on a gold medal and a grand slam this time around.
With four athletes competing a day apart, the Korean taekwondo team came to Paris determined to banish the pain of Tokyo with a gold medal.
South Korea’s taekwondo team only won one silver and two bronze medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
It was the first time South Korea hadn’t won a gold medal at an Olympic Games since the sport was recognized as an official sport.
Paris, which the team chose as the venue to restore its honor, is the site of a turning point in the sport’s history.
On September 4, 1994, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted at its 103rd Session to include taekwondo as an official sport at the Sydney 2000 Games.
This official inclusion spurred the sport’s globalization, and it has since become an “Olympic sport” with global participation. 토토사이트 추천