2016 Olympic taekwondo results: Gold medals go to Azerbaijan, China in heavyweight events

Saturday saw the final medals handed out in taekwondo at the 2016 Olympics, with events in the heavyweight divisions -- over 80kg for men, and over 67kg for women. The gold medals went to Azerbaijan and China, respectively.

In the men’s heavyweight division, Radik Isaev of Azerbaijan earned the gold with a win by final score, 6-2, over Abdoul Issoufou of Niger. Isaev is no stranger to victory, having won a gold at the 2015 World Championships as well, but this is the first Olympic medal his country has ever earned in the sport. Meanwhile, Issoufou’s silver might be even more noteworthy -- it’s the first medal for Niger in any sport at these Olympics, and the highest they’ve ever received in the history of the Games. The country’s only other Olympic medal was a bronze in men’s boxing back in 1972.

There were also two bronze medal matches for the heavyweight men. Maicon Siqueira of Brazil defeated M’Bar N’Diaye of France with a win by final score, 5-2. Siqueira’s victory put the host country in a tie for 12th (with New Zealand and the Netherlands) with 18 total medals in these Games. In the other match, Cha Dong-min of South Korea took down Dmitriy Shokin of Uzbekistan in a tight match by winning the golden point, 4-3. Dong-min’s medal gives South Korea five in the sport this year, which leads all countries; they also lead in all-time taekwondo medals. Both bronze medalists came up through the repechage round after losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual finalists.

In the women’s heavyweight division, Zheng Shuyin of China notched a 5-1 win by final score over María Espinoza of Mexico in the gold medal match. China now has 25 golds in these Games, just behind second-place Great Britain with 27.

The women’s bronze matches saw a medalist from the United States. Jackie Galloway, a 20-year-old who goes to school at SMU, defeated Gwladys Épangue of France by final score, 2-1. Galloway, who grew up in Texas, holds dual citizenship with Mexico and actually served as an alternate for the Mexican team in the last Olympics, though she didn’t end up getting to go to London. She’s representing the US this year and brought home her first Olympic medal.

The other bronze medal match went to Bianca Walkden of Great Britain, with a 7-1 win by final score over Wiam Dislam of Morocco. It would have been the second medal of these Games for Morocco, but it wasn’t meant to be in this event. Unlike in the men’s bracket, neither of the women’s bronze medalists came up through the repechage round, instead making it all the way to the semifinals before falling to the eventual finalists.