At the fourth and last day of the Olympic Taekwondo Tournament, Europe clinched 2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals! Also, this last day of Olympic Taekwondo showcased a sport that is truly an Olympic sport! Universality, excitement till the last second and unpredictable! The 4D instant video review was amazing to see and really added value to the sport.
France’s Althea Laurin first opponent was Briseida Acosta from Mexico. Althea very confident defeated Mexico with a 21:3 win. In the quarter finals, Zheng from China was waiting. Zheng who wanted revenge for her 2019 Manchester loss from Bianca Walkden (GBR) obviously did not expected Althea to ruin her Olympic dream. Zheng had no answer for Althea in the first 2 rounds: she scored 0 points. At the start of the final round, Althea had 6 points on the scoreboard. Zheng scored 6 points in the final round, but had again no answer to the 8 points scored by Althea! Final score: 14:6! In the semifinals, Althea met Milica Mandic from Serbia who had a mission to complete: to win her second Olympic gold medal. They both fought a good fight, but Milica turned out to be the strongest and defeated Althea with 7:5. In the bronze medal contest, Althea faced off against Aminata Traore from Ivory Coast. Althea kept her head cool and did what she needed to do: win!! She scored an impressive 17:8 win and brought an Olympic bronze medal back home!
After the world champion title in 2019, Bianca Walkden from Great Britain had only one objective: winning the Olympic gold medal. With a bye in the round of 16, Bianca met Canzel Deniz from Kazakhstan. With a score of 17:7 she won her first contest confidently. In the semifinals, Bianca met Korean Dabin Lee, also world champion in Manchester 2019.
After the first round, Korea was leading with 3:1. In the second round, Bianca came back strongly and the score was 10:10. With 30 seconds left on the clock in the third round, Bianca scored 2 points and scored twice with a fist, bringing the score to 22:23 in her advantage leaving the clock at 10 seconds. With only three seconds on the clock, Lee was penalized with a gam-jeom: 22:24 for Bianca. Literally in the last second, Lee scored 3 points with a head kick: 25:24 leaving Bianca with a ticket for the bronze medal contest. Aleksandra Kowalczuk from Poland was a strong opponent, but Bianca was focused and scored 7:3 claiming her second Olympic bronze medal.
Milica Mandic from Serbia wanted to win her second Olympic gold medal. With a 13:0 win over Kenia’s Ogallo, Milica had an excellent start of her Olympic journey. In the quarter finals, Poland’s Aleksandra Kowalczuk turned out to be a tough opponent. Aleksandra was strong in the first round and scored 3:2. In the second round none of the athletes were able to score. The third round was decisive and Milica found her winning mode again. She scored an impressive 9 points and won the fight with 11:4. In the semifinals, Milica met Althea Laurin from France. In the first round, no score. In the second round, both Milica and Althea score a head kick: 3:3. In the final round, Milica turned out to be the strongest and brought the score to 7:5. In the gold medal contest, Korean’s Dabin Lee was eager to win the first gold medal for Korea at these Olympics. But she had no chance against Milica. In the first round, Milica made very clear that she was deciding how the fight would end: 5:0! In the second round, Lee scored 3 points, Milica 1 and at the start of the third round, the score was 6:3. In the final round, both athletes scored 4 points, leaving Milica to win her second Olympic gold medal!
Dejan Georgievski from North Macedonia started his dream Olympic Games with a win over Cuba’s Alba Castillo with 11:8. In the quarter finals, Gbane from Ivory Coast was defeated with 9:4. In the semifinals, Korean In Kyo Don was on a mission to conquer the first Korean Olympic gold medal at these Olympics. In the first round, Kyo Don took a small lead of 1 point, but in the second round, Dejan took charge of the contest. Score: 5:3! In the last round, Dejan closed the deal and scored an additional 7 points. Kyo Don could not score more than 3 points which resulted in an end score of 12:6.
Russian Vladislav Larin was opposing Tonga Taufatofua in the first round and won this round with 24:3. Slovenian Ivan Trajkovic had a tough fight against Vladislav and was defeated in the end by 16:3. China’s Sun had no chance whatsoever and was sent home with a score of 30:3. In the gold medal contest, North Macedonian Dejan Georgievski was eager to win the gold. In the first round, Vladislav had difficulties in scoring, only 2 points were realized. In the second round, Vladislav for the first time in this Olympic tournament had difficulties with his opponent. Score in the second round: 7:7. At the start of the third round, the scoreboard showed 9:7 for Russia, but all was still open for each side to win the gold. Dejan scored twice and Vladislav was stronger and scored 6 times. At the end, Vladislav grabbed the Olympic gold medal with a final score of 15:9. An amazing result not only for Russia, but definitely also for North Macedonia!
After 4 days, Europe was leading the medal table with 5 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze medals. Asia is following with 2 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. Pan America follows with 1 gold and 1 bronze and Africa with 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.