Wink Boy' Park Tae-jun Washes Away the Shame of 8 Years

Wink Boy' Park Tae-jun Washes Away the Shame of 8 Years of No Gold Medals in Korean Taekwondo

Men's 58kg class first ever Korean Taekwondo new history

Men's Olympic gold medal in 16 years Dreamed of watching Lee Dae-hoon 12 years ago 'Upset' from Olympic team selection

I will definitely do it' is the lucky spell "I have lived for this moment for 20 years"

“I can do it. I can’t help it. I will definitely do it. This too shall pass. Time passes and it will be nothing. Why should I die over something like this?”

The following phrases are listed in order on the background of Park Tae-jun’s (20) mobile phone. He says it is “a lucky saying that really brings me luck.”

Park Tae-jun, who chanted his own ‘lucky spell’ in his head every time everyone said he couldn’t do it, broke another wall and wrote a new history for Korean Taekwondo.

Recite the lucky spell “I will definitely do it” 안전놀이터

World No. 5 Park Tae-jun won by a forfeit victory over Gasim Magomedov (ranked 26th, Azerbaijan) in the men's 58kg final of the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France on the 7th (local time).

This is the first time that Korean taekwondo has won a gold medal in this weight class.

Previously, the best performance was the silver medal won by Lee Dae-hoon (32, Daejeon City Hall coach) at the 2012 London Games.

At the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Games, Kim Tae-hoon (30) and Jang Jun (24) only won bronze medals.

Park Tae-jun, who wrote a new history for Korean taekwondo, said, "I feel like I've lived for this moment for 20 years," and was delighted, saying, "This is a gold medal that contains my career as an athlete."

Korea, the home of taekwondo, which suffered the humiliation of 'no gold' in Tokyo three years ago, saved its pride by winning a gold medal for the first time in eight years since the Rio Games.

In particular, it has been 16 years since a Korean male athlete won a gold medal at the Olympics, since Son Tae-jin (68kg class) and Cha Dong-min (over 80kg class) at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Park Tae-jun dreamed of winning a silver medal in the same weight class 12 years ago, watching Lee Dae-hoon.

Having started his path as an elite athlete in earnest since the 5th grade of elementary school, he entered Hansung High School, Lee Dae-hoon’s alma mater, in hopes of becoming like him.

Park Tae-jun, who received instruction from Lee Dae-hoon whenever he visited his alma mater, was able to grow into the best athlete in high school, mastering techniques such as the flying kick, roundhouse kick, and foot cut techniques that block an opponent’s attack with the foot.

Not many expected Park Tae-jun to go to Paris.

The weight class was dominated by Jang Jun, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games and a gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, and Bae Jun-seo (24), the winner of the 58kg class at the World Championships last year.

It was a huge wall for Park Tae-jun, who was just starting to make a name for himself on the international stage.

But Park Tae-jun finally made it through the national team trials.

Having raised his Olympic ranking to 5th place, he qualified to compete and won his last match against Jang Jun, who was ranked 3rd in the world, in February to grab his dream ticket to Paris.

Park Tae-jun, who had lost all six matches against Jang Jun, said he gained great courage from watching 'Queen of Shuttlecock' Ahn Se-young (22) overcome her natural enemy Chen Yufei (China).

Continued surprises at the Olympics

Although he managed to qualify for the Olympics, Park Tae-jun's prospects for a gold medal were not bright.

He had to face world number one Mohamed Khalil Zendoubi (Tunisia) in the matchup list. Zendoubi was a silver medalist at the Tokyo Games three years ago and was considered a strong candidate for a gold medal at this competition.

His record against Park Tae-jun was also even at 1 win and 1 loss.

When the lid was opened, Zendubi was no match for Park Tae-jun.

Park Tae-jun, who played an aggressive match against Zendubi from start to finish, defeated him with a score of 2-0 (6-2, 13-6) and advanced to the finals.

Park Tae-jun also showed off his overwhelming skills in the finals against Magomedov.

After winning the first round 9-0, he widened the score gap to 13-1 in the second round.

Magomedov, who fell while holding his injured left shin in the first round, forfeited, confirming Park Tae-jun’s victory.