PARIS– Panipak Wongpattanakit retired with perfection as she became the first Thai athlete in any sport to become a double Olympic champion on Wednesday.
Wongpattanakit defended his Tokyo Games title to secure Thailand’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics and Park Tae-joon restored South Korea’s pride on the opening day of the taekwondo competition.
Wongpattanakit, who confirmed he will call time on his career, celebrated the gold by grabbing a Thai flag after jumping into his coach’s arms.
“I’m in a lot of pain,” she said on the eve of her 27th birthday. “I had a broken knee. And my ankle, my hip… Now I have to retire.”
Wongpattanakit, who comfortably won his opening three fights to reach the final of the 49-kilogram category, lost in the first round against Guo Qing of China but recovered with two consecutive kicks to the body and head.
Guo fought to force a decision, but Wongpattanakit prevailed after video analysis showed she had successfully landed two spectacular head kicks.
Under new rules introduced in Paris, fights are decided in a best-of-three format rather than cumulative points.
Taekwondo is South Korea’s national martial art, and the country suffered 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 by defeating his opponent in a brutal gold medal final.
“It was my childhood dream,” Park said.
In the men’s 58 kilogram category, Park demolished Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan, who continued but retired injured.
After contact with his opponent’s leg in the opening round, Magomedov fell to the canvas, clutching his left leg in pain. He was treated by doctors and managed to resume the fight.
Trailing 7-0 with 14 seconds left, he limped and sat down again to receive further treatment, losing the round without scoring any points. Magomedov was helped off the canvas, but returned for the second round and continued without threatening his opponent, who ended his masterpiece with a superb spinning kick to the head.
Magomedov’s ordeal continued a little longer when Park landed a final kick to the back that sent him out of the fighting arena. It was the coup de grace and Magomedov gave up.
“In Tokyo, South Korea didn’t get the gold medal, it was a little frustrating and sad. Today I am honored and proud. The entire team worked hard to make sure we were prepared here,” Park said.
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 semi-finalists facing two competitors who lost to the finalists in the knockout stage.
Ravet came close to a huge comeback in the quarterfinals against Park. Buoyed by strong support from a partisan crowd holding huge cutouts of their favorite Olympian, he had a two-point lead in the deciding round with 33 seconds remaining. But the Frenchman was unable to maintain the advantage, as the South Korean landed two direct kicks to the body to turn the situation around.
With Park reaching the final, Ravet was allowed to compete in the repechage and made the most of it to qualify for the bronze medal match. He was then awarded bronze without fighting due to Vito Dell’Aquila withdrawing.
Tokyo champion Dell’Aquila struggled with injury in Paris and was beaten 2-0 in the semi-finals by Magomedov.
“My kidnapper was really on fire,” he said. “I couldn’t fight, but at the Olympics I tried anyway.
Omar Ismail wanted to inspire Palestinian youth with a taekwondo medal amid the Israel-Hamas Warwhich claimed more than 39,000 Palestinian lives, according to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
But the teenager’s campaign in Paris came to a brutal end in the round of 16.
No Palestinian athlete has ever won an Olympic medal.
Ismail was the only Palestinian athlete to qualify for the Paris Games in his own right. The other seven won their places in a wildcard system delivered as part of the universality quota places.
Ismail was born in Dubai, the son of parents from the city of Jenin, in the West Bank.
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