Olympic taekwondo results 2016: South Korea’s Kim So-hui, China’s Shuai Zhao win gold

Taekwondo is one of the oldest martial arts in the world, having originated in Korea over 2,000 years ago. It was incorporated as a demonstration sport in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and was adopted as an Olympic competition in the Sydney Games in 2000. The taekwondo competition at the Rio Games concluded on Wednesday, and all of the medals have been awarded.

In the women’s 49 kg. bronze medal match, Yazmina Aziez of France faced off against Patimat Abakarova of Azerbaijan. Aziez took bronze at the 2015 World Championship in Copenhagen, but she turned out to be no match for Abakarova, who pulled off a dominant win by final score, besting Aziez 7-2.

The men’s 58 kg. bronze medal match was next, featuring Luisito Pie of the Dominican Republic against Jesús Tortosa Cabrera of Spain. Pie led 5-0 after the second round, but Cabrera wasn’t prepared to give in. Cabrera scored a point early in the third round, and with just five seconds remaining in that final round, Cabrera landed a headshot, evening up the score 5-all. This led to a sudden death round, called the Golden Point round, and as time was winding down, Pie landed a body shot, scoring a point and securing the bronze with a final score of 6-5.

Another women’s bronze medal match followed, in the 49 kg. weight class. Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand squared up against Itzel Adilene Manjarrez Bastidas of Mexico. Wongpattanakit led 11-3 as the second round wound down. Bastidas looked outmatched throughout, and was limping a bit toward the end of the second match. In the end, she was no match for Wongpattanakit, who won with a final score of 15-3.

The last bronze medal match was in the men’s 58 kg. weight class, and South Korea’s Kim Tae-hun took on Carlos Rubén Navarro Valdez of Mexico. It was a hard fought match from the first, and the score remained tied at 0-0 as time expired on the first round. Tae-hun scored 3 points with about 25 seconds left in the second round, and added another point for a body kick, then two more points for a spin kick to the body in the third. Navarro Valdez challenged in the third, claiming he made contact with Tae-hun’s chin, but video replay didn’t confirm it and he was not awarded points. In the third round, though, Navarro Valdez narrowed Tae-hun’s lead to 7-5 with just seconds remaining, but in the end he could not overcome Tae-hun who won with a final score of 7-5.

The first gold medal match was in the women’s 49 kg. weight class, with Tijana Bogdanović of Serbia taking on Kim So-hui of South Korea. So-hui got on the board first, landing a kick about a minute into the first round for one point, and then quickly adding another. Before the end of the first round, Bogdanović landed a kick, narrowing So-hui’s lead to 2-1. A kick to the head in the second round earned So-hui three more points, extending her lead to 5-2. Bogdanović had a strong third round, keeping up with So-hui, and it appeared she evened the score 7-7 with a push kick as time expired on the third round. That point was overturned, and the gold was awarded to So-hui, with Bogdanović securing the silver.

The final medal match was the men’s 58 kg. gold medal match, featuring Shuai Zhao of China against Tawin Hanprab from Thailand. Zhao took an early 1-0 lead, and extended his lead to 3-0 by the end of the first round. Hanprab landed a kick to Zhao’s body and added a point early in the second round, but Zhao was blocking effectively and also added a point midway through the second, extending his lead to 4-1. Seconds into the third and final round, Hanprab narrowed the lead to 5-4, but Zhao almost immediately landed another kick to the body, extending his lead to 6-4. Despite Hanprab’s best efforts, the score held through the end of the third round, and Shuai Zhao won the gold.