'Gold Kick From Day 1 of Taekwondo' Park Tae-joon Beat Magomedov''Perfect Gold Medal'...He also solved the 58kg no-gold 恨
Aug 08, 2024
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Park Tae-joon defeated Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov 2-0 (9-0 13-1) in the men's 58kg taekwondo final at the 2024 Paris Olympics held in Grand Palais, Paris on the 7th (Korea time). Park Tae-joon won the gold medal at his first career Olympics with this victory. The men's 58kg weight class in Korean taekwondo has been lifted. South Korea has consistently produced superstars in this weight class, but it has not been linked to the Olympic gold medal. Lee Dae-hoon won a silver medal at the 2012 London Games, Kim Tae-hoon won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games, and Jang Joon won a bronze medal at the previous Tokyo Games.
Park Tae-joon was the vanguard of Korean taekwondo trying to clean up the slump of No Gold at the last Tokyo Games. Korea's taekwondo has set its sights on at least one gold medal at the Olympics. The most anticipated candidate was Park Tae-joon. Park Tae-joon, who won his first Taegeuk mark in 2022 while attending Hanseong High School, emerged as a new hope for Korean Taekwondo by winning the World Grand Prix in Manchester, his first international competition. At the Olympic trials in February, he beat world No. 3 Jang Jun to qualify for the Paris Olympics. With Park Tae-joon winning the gold medal, Korean Taekwondo will be able to carry out the rest of the schedule more comfortably. It is expected that better-than-expected results will be possible.
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The semifinalist was Mohamed Khalil Zendubi of Tunisia, who was ranked #1 in the world. Zendubi was considered a strong favorite. Gendubi defeated Bailey Lewis (Australia, 14th) in the quarterfinals with a round score of 2-0 (7-4 6-3). Zendubi is a silver medalist at the Tokyo Games held just before. At that time, he was a strong player who defeated Jang Joon (Korea Gas Corporation), a leading player in the Korean competition, in the semifinals.
Park Tae-joon pushed his opponent hard from the beginning. He won the game easier than expected, including successful head attacks. 2-0 (6-2 13-6) a complete victory. Park Tae-joon said "Everyone expected the player to come up and do it aggressively. It worked well." Then "It's an honor to be in the final in 12 years in this weight class, but my goal is gold!"I didn't let my guard down.
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Round 1. Park Tae-joon took the lead by kicking his body in six seconds. About a minute later, they bumped into each other. Magomedov collapsed complaining of pain in his foot. Magomedov took points and widened the score to 3-0. Park Tae-joon led 7-0 with a series of body kicks. Magomedov collapsed again with 14 seconds left in the first round. It was 9-0 with additional points. I got the first round.
Round two, Magomedov limped to the center of the mat. Magomedov has shown his fighting spirit. Both players exchanged points. Magomedov was deducted once more, and Park Tae-joon led 2-1. Magomedov applied for a video review of the head attack, but it was not recognized. Rather, Park Tae-joon succeeded in kicking the rotating head, making it 7-1. Successive body kicks were successful, reaching 13-1. In fact, the game was over. Magomedov was eventually knocked down by injury, and the game ended.
Ahead of this competition, Park Tae-joon vowed to relieve the resentment of coach Lee Dae-hoon, who retired after failing to win an Olympic gold medal. As is known, Lee Dae-hoon is Park Tae-joon's high school senior and role model. I still have a picture I took when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, and I followed him to Hanseong High School. Park Tae-joon opened a new era of Korean taekwondo, winning an Olympic gold medal that even his role model Lee Dae-hoon did not have.
vanbasten@sportschosun.com
