Park Tae-joon wins Korea's first taekwondo gold since Rio in dramatic end to -58kg competition

Park Tae-joon won Korea’s first Olympic taekwondo gold since the 2016 Rio Olympics on Wednesday, beating Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan in a dramatic end to the men’s -58-kilogram competition.

Korea's Park Tae-joon celebrates after winning the taekwondo men's -58kg final against Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov at the Grand Palais in Paris on Wednesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Park Tae-joon won Korea’s first Olympic taekwondo gold since the 2016 Rio Olympics on Wednesday, beating Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan in a dramatic end to the men’s -58-kilogram competition.

It was an emotional night at the Grand Palais in Paris as Magomedov hit the deck with an injury within the opening minute of the final. The Azerbaijani practitioner, clearly in significant pain from what appeared to be an issue with his shin and knee, insisted on continuing and saw out the end of the first round, losing it 9-0 to Park.

Magomedov returned in the second round despite struggling to stay upright, insisting that he wanted to see out the match. Park, who repeatedly went to check on Magomedov throughout his medical breaks, respected his wishes and continued to fight.

The Azerbaijani practitioner was able to stay on his feet for the first minute but was ultimately unable to continue, bowing out with the score at 13-1 when he was unable to regain his feet. Waving a way a wheelchair so that he could exit the competition area on his own feet, Magomedov took a moment to congratulate Park and then limped off the mat.

Despite Magomedov’s unfortunate exit and the painful spectacle that became, Wednesday’s final was still a decisive win for Park and a big moment for Korean taekwondo.

Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov is helped by members of his team after being injured in the taekwondo men's -58kg final against Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov at the Grand Palais in Paris on Wednesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Park, competing in his first Olympics, entered the competition seeded at No. 5 based on the World Taekwondo Olympic ranking. He started off his day against 12th seed Yohandri Granado of Venezuela, beating him 2-0 in the round of 16, before advancing to beat fourth seed Cyrian Ravet of France 2-1 in a very tight quarterfinal.

Park breezed past top seed Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia 2-0 in the semifinals, earning the spot in the final against 10th-seed Magomedov.

Having invented the sport and dominated it for decades, Team Korea ended up heading home without a single taekwondo gold medal from Tokyo 2020, claiming just one silver and two bronze medals in the competition.

That result, the country’s first Olympics without a taekwondo gold since it became a regular inclusion in 2000, came as a nasty shock for Korea and was hailed as a national embarrassment by newspaper columnists across the country.

As a result, the four taekwondo practitioners that qualified to represent Korea at the Paris Games did so with a lot of pressure riding on their shoulders. Park was the first of the four to compete, and his gold medal comes as a huge boost to the team.

Kim Yu-jin will be the next in action on Thursday as she competes in the women’s -57-kilogram competition, followed by Seo Geon-woo in the men’s -80 kilograms on Friday and Lee Da-bin in the women’s +60 kilograms on Saturday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]