Taekwondo at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Encyclopedia
Taekwondo
competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing
were held from August 20 to August 23 at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium
. 128 Taekwondo practitioners, 64 men and 64 women, competed in 8 events. For the first time ever two bronze medals were awarded per event.
dominated this competition by winning 4 gold medal
s in the 4 events they participated. Hadi Saei
repeated as champion and along with Steven López
, they were the only 2 Taekwondo practitioners who won medal in a streak of 3 Olympics. Chu Mu-Yen
and Alexandros Nikolaidis
also won a medal for the second time. Rohullah Nikpai
became the first Afghan
Olympics medalist. Sarah Stevenson
finally won a medal in her third Olympics appearance, eliminating two-time gold medalist Chen Zhong
in an unprecedented result overturn.
system will be maintained and the difference will be that both winners of the respective repechage matches will receive a bronze medal.
of Mali
, Deepak Bista
of Nepal
, Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum
of United Arab Emirates
, Nesar Ahmad Bahave
of Afghanistan
, Miguel Ferrera of Honduras
& Bineta Diedhiou
of Senegal
all have the honor of being taekwondo practitioners to have carried their nation's flag in the opening ceremony.
of Great Britain and China's Chen Zhong
, the defending gold medalist from Sydney and Athens, was plagued with controversy. Chen Zhong had led 1-0 through most of the match but 4 seconds before the end, Stevenson landed a clear strike to the face of her opponent. However, only half the judges recorded the hit and thus was not registered, dashing Stevenson's Olympic hopes of gaining her the two points that would have secured her a quick victory. Stevenson's coach was furious and protested to the referee and judges, but initially Zhong was awarded the match. The British team protested for over an hour and on seeing the clear video footage of the strike to the face, unprecedently in the sport of Taekwondo, much to the crowd's dislike, the judges decision was repealed and it was Stevenson who went through to the semi-finals against the Mexican Maria del Rosario Espinoza
.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/taekwondo/8306089.stm Espinoza however, with a, secured a clear victory over the unprepared Stevenson and went on to win gold, whilst Stevenson took bronze in the bronze medal match against the Egyptian Noha Abd Rabo.
On announcing the change of result in the quarter final, the tournament director said:
A protest was sent out and was subsequently denied. Many coaches, not only the Canadian coach, were shocked at the loss.
against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov
. After he incurred an injury in the fight (at which point he led the match 3-2), he subsequently took a Kyeshi
. Under World Taekwondo Federation
tournament rules players sustaining injury are allowed one minute of Kyeshi time, at the end of which the competitor in question must return to the center of the ring to resume the fight or request further time, or else forfeit the match. Swedish
referee Chakir Chelbat gave a time warning at 40 seconds, but Kyeshi elapsed without Matos returning to the center. The referee ruled while he was sitting awaiting medical attention that he had taken too long during his time out and subsequently disqualified him. "To me it was obvious he was unable to continue", his opponent Arman Chilmanov
of Kazakhstan said. "His toe on his left foot was broken." After Chilmanov was declared the winner, Matos briefly argued and then delivered a kick to the face of the referee, drawing blood from the referee's mouth, then pushed or punched a judge and spat on the arena floor. Given alleged poor judging during the Olympics, which left many competitors raging in injustice, the crowd watching the event chanted "Cuba" and applauded him and his coach.
Matos' coach Leudis González said of the referee's initial decision to end the fight, "He was too strict...".
A statement released by the World Taekwondo Federation
referred to the incident as a "strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games", ordered all reports of his participation in the 2008 Olympics to be struck from the records, and imposed a lifetime ban preventing him and his coach, González, from participation in any future World Taekwondo Federation events.
Fidel Castro defended Ángel Matos by saying Ángel Matos was rightfully indignant over his disqualification from the bronze-medal match. "I saw when the judges blatantly stole fights from two Cuban boxers in the semifinals", Castro wrote. "Our fighters ... had hopes of winning, despite the judges, but it was useless. They were condemned beforehand."
, the two-time defending gold medalist in that class who had not lost a match since 2002, had one point taken away by the referee in the third period of his quarterfinal match against Italy's Mauro Sarmiento
. The referee determined that Lopez had used an illegal "cut kick" (blocked an opponent's blow below the waist). The deduction turned Lopez' 2–1 lead to a 1–1 tie, and Lopez lost in sudden-death overtime. USA coach Herb Perez unsuccessfully protested the decision, asserting that Lopez had raised his left leg in defense and Sarmiento had kicked into the leg in an attempt to draw the deduction.
In the wake of the decision, Perez leveled serious charges against the sport's governing body, the World Taekwondo Federation
:
Charles Robinson, a writer for Yahoo! Sports
in the US, called the events surrounding Lopez' match "a chaotic episode that might ultimately prove to be the tipping point to Olympic doom", adding that it had been widely rumored that taekwondo was on the brink of being removed from the Olympic program.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
were held from August 20 to August 23 at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium
Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium
The Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium is an indoor arena located on the campus of the University of Science and Technology Beijing. The venue covers an area of 2.38 hectares and the total floor space of construction reaches 24,662 square metres. The seating capacity is 8,024...
. 128 Taekwondo practitioners, 64 men and 64 women, competed in 8 events. For the first time ever two bronze medals were awarded per event.
Medal summary
South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
dominated this competition by winning 4 gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
s in the 4 events they participated. Hadi Saei
Hadi Saei
Hadi Saei Bonehkohal is a former Iranian Azerbaijani Taekwondo athlete who became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history after winning gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He competed in the Men's 68 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal...
repeated as champion and along with Steven López
Steven López
Steven López is a 2000 and 2004 Olympic Gold medalist and a 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist in taekwondo. In 2001, he won the Lightweight Taekwondo World Championship, and in 2003 he won the Welterweight Taekwondo World Championship which he has since won in 2005, 2007 and 2009 making him the first...
, they were the only 2 Taekwondo practitioners who won medal in a streak of 3 Olympics. Chu Mu-Yen
Chu Mu-Yen
Chu Mu-yen is a Taekwondo athlete from Taiwan. He is the second Taiwanese athlete and first male to win a gold medal at the Olympics, winning in men's under 58-kilogram class in Taekwondo at the Athens 2004 Games...
and Alexandros Nikolaidis
Alexandros Nikolaidis
Alexandros Nikolaidis is an Olympic taekwondo athlete from Greece. Initially the favorite, he eventually won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics held in Athens after losing from his opponent and eventual gold medalist, Moon Dae-Sung of South Korea.On March 24, 2008 Alexandros Nikolaidis had the...
also won a medal for the second time. Rohullah Nikpai
Rohullah Nikpai
Rohullah Nikpai is an Afghani taekwondo practitioner.-Career:Of Hazara origin, Nikpai started his training in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the age of 10. During the bloody conflict over the capital city, his family left the city and settled in one of Iran's many Afghan refugee camps. He soon became a...
became the first Afghan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
Olympics medalist. Sarah Stevenson
Sarah Stevenson
Sarah Diana Stevenson is a British Taekwondo athlete from Bentley near Doncaster, England.Stevenson finished fourth on her Olympics debut in 2000 and after a judging error was reversed in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she went on to win a Bronze medal, the first British...
finally won a medal in her third Olympics appearance, eliminating two-time gold medalist Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. She won China's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and successfully defended...
in an unprecedented result overturn.
Medal table
| 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Total | 8 | 8 | 16 | 32 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men's events
| Flyweight (58 kg) |
|||
| Lightweight (68 kg) |
|||
| Middleweight (80 kg) |
|||
| Heavyweight (+80 kg) |
|||
Women's events
| Flyweight (49 kg) |
|||
| Lightweight (57 kg) |
|||
| Middleweight (67 kg) |
|||
| Heavyweight (+67 kg) |
|||
Competition format
The taekwondo competition at the Olympic Games consists of a single elimination tournament. A change has been made as the IOC decided to award two bronze medals in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. However, the repechageRepechage
Repechage is a practice amongst ladder competitions that allows participants that failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round.- Types of repechage :...
system will be maintained and the difference will be that both winners of the respective repechage matches will receive a bronze medal.
Flagbearers
Daba Modibo KeitaDaba Modibo Keita
Daba Modibo Keïta is an Malian Taekwondo athlete. Keïta has competed in international competitions since 1996, and in 2007 became the Heavyweight division 2007 World Taekwondo Champion in Beijing, and in 2008 competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the +80 kg class.-Personal life:Keïta was...
of Mali
Mali at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Mali sent a delegation of 17 athletes in 4 sports to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Most notable Malian participants are the 12 members of the Mali women's national basketball team winners of the FIBA Africa Championship for Women 2007 and Daba Modibo Keita, the 2007 World Taekwondo...
, Deepak Bista
Deepak Bista
Deepak Bista is a male Nepalese taekwondo practitioner. He won the bronze medal in the welterweight category at the 2006 Asian Games, and competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics. On August 8, 2008 at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, Bista was the flagbearer for Nepal.-Childhood:Deepak...
of Nepal
Nepal at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Nepal competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics which were held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. The country was represented by eight athlethes, who competed in athletics, judo, shooting, swimming and taekwondo...
, Sheikha Maitha Al Maktoum
Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is a karate and taekwondo athlete and sheikha of Dubai.Representing the United Arab Emirates in the 2006 Asian Games, she won the silver medal at the Women's Over 60 Kilogram karate event...
of United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates at the 2008 Summer Olympics
The United Arab Emirates competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This Emirati delegation was the largest in the history of the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates was attempting to add to their only medal, which was awarded at the 2004 Summer Olympics.The country sent...
, Nesar Ahmad Bahave
Nesar Ahmad Bahave
Nesar Ahmad Bahave is from Afghanistan Taekwondo practitioner. He won the silver medal in the lightweight category at the 2007 World Taekwondo Championships, edging out 2004 Olympic Champion Hadi Saei in the semifinals...
of Afghanistan
Afghanistan at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Afghanistan sent a team to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The team consisted of three men and one woman. Initially, Mehboba Ahdyar prepared to run the 800 metres and 1500 metres, but left her training camp on June 4 to seek political asylum in Norway.The country was...
, Miguel Ferrera of Honduras
Honduras at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Honduras sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.-Men:-Women:- Football:Honduras under-23 men's national football team qualified as winners of the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament and competed in Group D alongside Nigeria, Italy and South Korea.* Kevin...
& Bineta Diedhiou
Bineta Diedhiou
Bineta Diedhiou is a Senegalese Taekwondo practitioner. She won the bronze medal in featherweight at the 2005 World Taekwondo Championships in Madrid. Diedhiou carried Senegal's flag at the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.-References:*...
of Senegal
Senegal at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Senegal competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008.- Athletics :- Canoeing :- Flatwater :MenWomen- Fencing :MenWomen- Judo :...
all have the honor of being taekwondo practitioners to have carried their nation's flag in the opening ceremony.
Controversies
Result overturning
On August 23 the quarterfinal match in the Women's +67 kg between Sarah StevensonSarah Stevenson
Sarah Diana Stevenson is a British Taekwondo athlete from Bentley near Doncaster, England.Stevenson finished fourth on her Olympics debut in 2000 and after a judging error was reversed in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she went on to win a Bronze medal, the first British...
of Great Britain and China's Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. She won China's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and successfully defended...
, the defending gold medalist from Sydney and Athens, was plagued with controversy. Chen Zhong had led 1-0 through most of the match but 4 seconds before the end, Stevenson landed a clear strike to the face of her opponent. However, only half the judges recorded the hit and thus was not registered, dashing Stevenson's Olympic hopes of gaining her the two points that would have secured her a quick victory. Stevenson's coach was furious and protested to the referee and judges, but initially Zhong was awarded the match. The British team protested for over an hour and on seeing the clear video footage of the strike to the face, unprecedently in the sport of Taekwondo, much to the crowd's dislike, the judges decision was repealed and it was Stevenson who went through to the semi-finals against the Mexican Maria del Rosario Espinoza
María del Rosario Espinoza
María del Rosario Espinoza, is a Mexican taekwondo practitioner. Espinoza stands at 173 cm and weighs 69 kg....
.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/taekwondo/8306089.stm Espinoza however, with a, secured a clear victory over the unprepared Stevenson and went on to win gold, whilst Stevenson took bronze in the bronze medal match against the Egyptian Noha Abd Rabo.
On announcing the change of result in the quarter final, the tournament director said:
Match-fixing allegations
Canadian medal hopeful, Ivett Gonda, lost 2-0 to Sweden's Hanna Zajc on the first day of competition despite Ivett's visible domination of the match. Her coach speculated that it is possible that the judge's scoring machines were possibly broken, he also speculated that another reason could be that the Chinese judge wanted to prevent Gonda from facing the Chinese competitor in the next round (who later easily beat Zajc on her way to the medal).A protest was sent out and was subsequently denied. Many coaches, not only the Canadian coach, were shocked at the loss.
Referee assault
The bronze medal match in the men's 80+ kg class saw Cuban gold medallist from Sydney in 2000 Ángel MatosAngel Matos
Ángel Valodia Matos Fuentes is a former Cuban taekwondo athlete. He received a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and added another at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro....
against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov
Arman Chilmanov
Arman Chilmanov is a Kazakhstani Taekwondo athlete.- 2008 Olympics :Chilmanov was the other competitor in the controversial +80 kg bronze medal match against Ángel Matos of Cuba....
. After he incurred an injury in the fight (at which point he led the match 3-2), he subsequently took a Kyeshi
Kyeshi
Kyeshi is a term used in taekwondo competitions.The use of the term is described in article 19 of the competition rules administrated by the World Taekwondo Federation. Article 19 describes the procedure for handling injuries during a contest...
. Under World Taekwondo Federation
World Taekwondo Federation
The World Taekwondo Federation is the International Federation member of the International Olympic Committee for the competition events of the martial art of taekwondo...
tournament rules players sustaining injury are allowed one minute of Kyeshi time, at the end of which the competitor in question must return to the center of the ring to resume the fight or request further time, or else forfeit the match. Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
referee Chakir Chelbat gave a time warning at 40 seconds, but Kyeshi elapsed without Matos returning to the center. The referee ruled while he was sitting awaiting medical attention that he had taken too long during his time out and subsequently disqualified him. "To me it was obvious he was unable to continue", his opponent Arman Chilmanov
Arman Chilmanov
Arman Chilmanov is a Kazakhstani Taekwondo athlete.- 2008 Olympics :Chilmanov was the other competitor in the controversial +80 kg bronze medal match against Ángel Matos of Cuba....
of Kazakhstan said. "His toe on his left foot was broken." After Chilmanov was declared the winner, Matos briefly argued and then delivered a kick to the face of the referee, drawing blood from the referee's mouth, then pushed or punched a judge and spat on the arena floor. Given alleged poor judging during the Olympics, which left many competitors raging in injustice, the crowd watching the event chanted "Cuba" and applauded him and his coach.
Matos' coach Leudis González said of the referee's initial decision to end the fight, "He was too strict...".
A statement released by the World Taekwondo Federation
World Taekwondo Federation
The World Taekwondo Federation is the International Federation member of the International Olympic Committee for the competition events of the martial art of taekwondo...
referred to the incident as a "strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games", ordered all reports of his participation in the 2008 Olympics to be struck from the records, and imposed a lifetime ban preventing him and his coach, González, from participation in any future World Taekwondo Federation events.
Fidel Castro defended Ángel Matos by saying Ángel Matos was rightfully indignant over his disqualification from the bronze-medal match. "I saw when the judges blatantly stole fights from two Cuban boxers in the semifinals", Castro wrote. "Our fighters ... had hopes of winning, despite the judges, but it was useless. They were condemned beforehand."
Allegations of mismanagement and intimidation
An incident in the men's 80 kg competition may prove to have a more lasting impact on the sport. American Steven LópezSteven López
Steven López is a 2000 and 2004 Olympic Gold medalist and a 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist in taekwondo. In 2001, he won the Lightweight Taekwondo World Championship, and in 2003 he won the Welterweight Taekwondo World Championship which he has since won in 2005, 2007 and 2009 making him the first...
, the two-time defending gold medalist in that class who had not lost a match since 2002, had one point taken away by the referee in the third period of his quarterfinal match against Italy's Mauro Sarmiento
Mauro Sarmiento
Mauro Sarmiento is an Italian martial artist. He represented Italy in Taekwondo at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 80 kg, and won the silver medal, upsetting two-time Olympic champion Steven López of the United States in the quarterfinals. In the gold medal round he lost to Hadi Saei.- References :...
. The referee determined that Lopez had used an illegal "cut kick" (blocked an opponent's blow below the waist). The deduction turned Lopez' 2–1 lead to a 1–1 tie, and Lopez lost in sudden-death overtime. USA coach Herb Perez unsuccessfully protested the decision, asserting that Lopez had raised his left leg in defense and Sarmiento had kicked into the leg in an attempt to draw the deduction.
In the wake of the decision, Perez leveled serious charges against the sport's governing body, the World Taekwondo Federation
World Taekwondo Federation
The World Taekwondo Federation is the International Federation member of the International Olympic Committee for the competition events of the martial art of taekwondo...
:
- He claimed that the protest was not properly handled. Typically, decisions on protests must be made within 15 minutes. No response was made for 45 minutes.
- He also stated that the US team received no indication why the protest was deemed "unacceptable". According to Perez, "Unacceptable could mean anything from we didn’t file the papers properly to we didn’t use the right color pencil... Under the WTF competition rules, we should have been notified about the decision, the criteria, the methodology used, what evidence was presented, and what referees were reviewing it. We were not."
- Perez also said that at a June 2008 conference, the heads of the 25 teams that were to compete in Beijing were asked to sign an agreement not to file any protests at the Games.
- After his protest was denied, Perez alleged that WTF officials approached him and asked him not to talk to the press.
Charles Robinson, a writer for Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
in the US, called the events surrounding Lopez' match "a chaotic episode that might ultimately prove to be the tipping point to Olympic doom", adding that it had been widely rumored that taekwondo was on the brink of being removed from the Olympic program.