Kim Yu-jin's Paris Olympics, which started with 'ups and downs' 'Breaking the seal'Successfully won a 金 medal'

Aug 09, 2024

Paris (France)=Reporter Jeong Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.8.8/

For Kim Yu-jin (Ulsan Sports Council), the beginning of the Paris Olympics was 'Urtle and Tumble'.

Korean Taekwondo has secured three tickets to Paris in advance, including Park Tae-joon (Kyung Hee University) in the men's 58kg class, Seo Kun-woo (Korea National Sports University) in the men's 80kg class, and Lee Da-bin (Seoul Metropolitan Government) in the women's 67kg class. In the remaining one chapter, the main character was determined through continental selection matches. In January, the Korea Taekwondo Association decided to challenge for the women's 57kg Olympic ticket through an internal meeting, and in February, through its own selection, Kim Yu-jin was decided to compete in Asia.

Kim Yu-jin beat Juli Mom (Cambodia) in the semifinals of the Asian Trials held in Taian, China, in March to win a ticket to Paris given to the top two in each weight class. Kim Yu-jin "It didn't go well in the process of ranking points or domestic selection matches"Eventually, it was burdensome to go to the continental selection match." Still, I ran with one mind to participate in the Olympics."

Was it because of the harder journey than others. Rather, Kim Yu-jin enjoyed preparing for the main stage of the Olympics. He is preparing happily because the process of coming is so difficult. The Olympics are not a big deal."

It was as he said. Kim Yoo-jin, ranked 24th in the world, had to face strong teams in a row. He set out to break the seal. In the round of 16, he beat world No. 5 and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Hartije Ilguin (Turkiye) 2-0 and in the quarterfinals, he beat Korean-Canadian player Skylar Park, who is ranked fourth in the world.

Paris (France)=Reporter Jeong Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.8.8/

The crisis was the semi-finals. He faced the world's No. 1 Luo Zongx (China), the strongest in this weight class. Kim Yu-jin gave up the second round, but in the third round, he made a series of head-kicking attacks to reach the final. The last opponent of Kim Yoo-jin, who beat the world's 5th → 4th → 1st place, was world's 2nd-ranked Nahid Kiyanichande (Iran). The final was not a problem for Kim Yoo-jin, who has already been in the flow. Kim Yu-jin won the gold medal by beating Kiyanichande 2-0 in the women's 57kg taekwondo final at the 2024 Paris Olympics at Grand Palais in Paris, France on the 9th (Korea time). The head attack using his long-term large height worked properly throughout the tournament. Kim Yoo-jin focused on boosting his quickness and physical strength in preparation for the competition, and exerted his power on the main stage.

Kim Yu-jin started taekwondo at the age of 8 at her grandmother's recommendation to learn self-defense skills. It was also my grandmother who raised me while my father and mother worked. So I wanted to give my grandmother a gold medal even before the competition, but that dream came true.

This weight class is deeply related to Korean Taekwondo. From the 2000 Sydney Games, when taekwondo first became an official sport, to the 2008 Beijing Games, Jeong Jae-eun, Jang Ji-won, and Lim Soo-jung won gold medals in this weight class in turn. However, no athlete won a medal in this weight class until the Tokyo Games later. Kim Yu-jin broke the hook. It was the beauty of the end of the line. It was the moment when Kim Yoo-jin, who dreamed of becoming Kim Yeon-kyung in the taekwondo world, emerged as a new star.

vanbasten@sportschosun.com