(Olympics) Park Tae-joon wins gold medal in men’s taekwondo

Park Tae-joon captured gold in the lightest division in men’s taekwondo on Wednesday for South Korea’s first title in its traditional martial at the Paris Olympics.

Park earned a win over Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan by withdrawal in the men’s -58-kilogram final at Grand Palais in Paris on the first day of the taekwondo competition. Park won the opening round 9-0 and led the second round 13-1 when Magomedov withdrew due to injury with 1:02 left.

Earlier in the day, Park knocked off world No. 1 from Tunisia, Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi, in the semifinals to set up a duel against Magomedov. Park then grabbed his first career gold after Magomedov decided he could not go on.

This is South Korea’s 12th gold medal of the Paris Olympics, one shy of its Summer Games record with four days left.

“Ever since I was a kid, this is what I’ve always wanted to win,” Park said, pointing to the gold medal around his neck. “Even though I have this with me, I still can’t believe I’ve won the gold medal. This feels like a dream.”

Under new rules introduced for Paris, taekwondo matches are contested in two-minute rounds and are decided in a best-of-three format.

Points are awarded for a valid punch or kick to the head or to the trunk protectors, as registered by the protector and scoring system (PSS).

Magomedov, the reigning European championship bronze medalist, defeated the defending Olympic gold medalist, Vito Dell’Aquila of Italy, in the semifinals for a surprise run to the final.

But Park proved to be too much for Magomedov. The South Korean scored two points with a kick to the body just six seconds into the contest. Less than a minute later, Magomedov went down and grabbed his left leg in obvious pain after the two athletes’ legs collided.

With Magomdedov barely able to stand the rest of the opening round, Park kept piling on points and won the period 9-0.

While nursing a 2-1 lead over his compromised opponent with 1:26 left in the second round, Park landed a turning kick to the head for five points — the most a practitioner can score in a single attack — to put the match out of reach.

With about a minute to go, Park landed a kick on Magomedov as the latter was falling down. The Azerbaijani stayed down while grabbing the back of his left thigh, and the match was called a few moments later when Magomedov withdrew.

It was an anticlimactic finish to what had been a dominant performance by Park, who became the first South Korean to win a gold in this weight class.

He is also the first South Korean man to win a taekwondo gold medal since 2008.

Park said he wasn’t sure if Magomedov had already hurt his left leg prior to the final or the opening-round collision had caused the injury. Either way, Park said he didn’t want to stop competing just because Magomedov was hurt.

“I’ve learned that I am always supposed to give my best effort until the opponent withdraws, because that’s a sign of respect,” Park said. “And this isn’t just any other competition. It’s the Olympics. So I wanted to do my best until the end.”

South Korea was shut out from the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the first time the birthplace of taekwondo failed to win a gold since taekwondo became a medal sport in 2000. The drought ended on Day 1 of taekwondo in Paris, with three more South Korean athletes set to compete this week.