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First gold in men's taekwondo in 16 years, first in 58kg class

South Korea Taekwondo national team member Park Tae-jun is celebrating after winning against Tunisia's Mohamed Khalil Zendoubi in the men's 58kg semifinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France on the 7th (Korean time).

The rising star of Korean men's taekwondo, Park Tae-jun (20, Kyung Hee University), won a gold medal in his first Olympic appearance.

On the 8th, at the Paris Olympics men's 58kg final held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, Park Tae-jun defeated Azerbaijan's Gasim Magomedov (26th) 2-0 in the round score and completed the golden kick.

It was a rare gold medal for Korean men's taekwondo. Korea, the 'dominant nation' of taekwondo, ended up with no gold medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, with one silver medal and two bronze medals. No Korean men's taekwondo player has won a gold medal since Son Tae-jin (68kg) and Cha Dong-min (over 80kg) at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In particular, Korean athletes have never won a gold medal in this event, the lightest men's event. In the 2012 London Games, 'World Star' Lee Dae-hoon won a silver medal, and in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Kim Tae-hoon and Jang Jun won bronze medals in the 2021 Tokyo Games.

The one who broke the long gold medal drought was Park Tae-jun, who rose like a morning star. After defeating Jang Jun, the star of this event, in the national team trials and wearing the Taegeuk mark, Park Tae-jun consistently dominated his opponents with aggressive play from the round of 16 to the final.

In the first round of the final against Magomedov, he built up the score from the beginning and won 9-1. During the match, Magomedov suffered a left knee injury, and the match became one-sided for Park Tae-jun. In the second round, when the score was 13-1 and Magomedov continued to complain of pain and withdrew, the referee stopped the match.

Park Tae-jun previously defeated world number one and 2021 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mohamed Khalil Zendoubi (Tunisia) in the semifinals with a score of 2-0 (6-2, 13-6) to advance to the final.