Wongpattanakit defends her Olympic taekwondo title and Park restores South Korea's pride in Paris

PARIS (AP) — Tokyo Olympic champion Panipak Wongpattanakit defended her title on Wednesday to secure Thailand’s first gold medal of the Paris Games and Park Tae-joon restored South Korea's pride on the opening day of the taekwondo competition.

Taekwondo is South Korea’s national martial art, and the country suffered a humiliation in Tokyo, where it failed to win a single gold medal for the first time since the sport became a medal event in 2000.

Park set the record straight by routing his opponent in a brutal final for the gold medal.

The 26-year-old Wongpattanakit comfortably won her three opening bouts to reach the final of the 49-kilogram category.

She trailed in the first round against Guo Qing of China but rallied with two consecutive kicks to the body and head. Guo fought back to force a decider, but Wongpattanakit prevailed after video reviews showed that she had successfully landed two spectacular head kicks.

Under the new rules introduced in Paris, bouts are decided on a best-of-three format rather than cumulative points.

In the men's 58 kilos class, Park demolished Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan, who soldiered on but retired injured.

After contact with his opponent’s leg in the opening round, Magomedov crashed to the canvas, clutching his left leg in pain. He was attended to by doctors and managed to resume the fight.

Trailing 7-0 with 14 seconds left, he limped and sat again to receive further treatment, losing the round without scoring a point. Magomedov was helped off the canvas but returned for the second round and continued without threatening his opponent, who capped off his masterpiece with a superb turning kick to the head.

Magomedov’s ordeal continued a bit longer as Park landed a final kick to his back that ejected him from the combat arena. It was the coup de grace, and Magomedov called it quit.

Wongpattanakit celebrated the gold by grabbing a Thai flag after jumping into her coach’s arms.

Mobina Nematzadeh of Iran and Lena Stojkovic of Croatia won bronze medals in the women's tournament. The men's bronze medals went to Cyrian Ravet of France and Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia.

Taekwondo tournaments at the Olympics award two bronze medals, with the losing semifinalists facing two contestants who lost to the finalists in the elimination phase.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games