Taekwondo competition
Taekwondo
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
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Venue
| ExCeL London
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Dates
| 8?11 August 2012
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Competitors
| 128 from 63 nations
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Taekwondo
competitions
at the
2012 Summer Olympics
in
London
was held from 8 August to 11 August at the
ExCeL London
. Competition was held in eight weight categories; four for men, and four for women.
Qualification
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The Taekwondo competition at the 2012 Games included 128 athletes, 64 in each gender, 16 in each of the eight weight divisions. Each competing nations were allowed to enter a maximum of four competitors, two of each gender. Each nation would therefore be eligible to compete in a maximum of half the weight categories.
[1]
Four places were reserved for
Great Britain
as host nation, and a further four was invitational as decided by the Tripartite Commission. The remaining 120 places were allocated through a qualification process, in which athletes won quota places for their respective nation.
If a nation which qualified through a Qualification Tournament relinquishes a quota place, it would be allocated to the nation of the next highest placed athlete in the respective weight category of that tournament as long as the addition of the place does not exceed the maximum quota for that nation.
[2]
Schedule
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Medal summary
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Due to the increasing controversies happened in the previous Olympics Taekwondo which led to speculations that this competition might be removed from the Olympic program, the
World Taekwondo Federation
introduced new electronic scoring system and instant video replays in anticipation to make the competition more transparent and fair. The distinction of Taekwondo at these Olympic Games was that this was the first time in the sport that eight gold medals were awarded to eight different NOCs. Europe took the lead and South Korea lost its dominance. The 2008 Olympics was the second time that
South Korea
, failed to medal in Taekwondo.
Steven Lopez
,
Alexandros Nikolaidis
and
Sarah Stevenson
, the only three legends who participated in each of the three previous Olympics, were all eliminated in the preliminary round.
Lee In Jong
and
Cha Dong-Min
became the first two Korean Taekwondo practitioners who could not secure any medals in the Olympics Taekwondo history.
Rohullah Nikpai
of Afghanistan defended his previous bronze medalist standing.
Anthony Obame
originated
Gabon
's Olympic medalist history in the sport.
Medal table
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Men's events
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Women's events
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Flag bearers
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Eleven taekwondo athletes were flag bearers during the Parade of Nations:
- Alexandros Nikolaidis
, representing Greece. Alexandros won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He previously had the honor to be the relay originating torchbearer of the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was a silver medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He compete in the
Men's +80kg
(heavyweight).
- Nesar Ahmad Bahave
, representing Afghanistan. He was also the flag bearer for Afghanistan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He has yet to medal at the Olympics, but he did win the silver at the World Championships in 2007. He competed in the
Men's 80 kg
(middleweight). On August,
?
he advanced from the preliminaries to the quarterfinals where he was defeated by
Sebastian Crismanich
of Argentina. Sebastian advanced to the gold medal match, so N advanced to the repechage bracket where he advanced again from the preliminary round to the bronze medal match against
Mauro Sarmiento
of Italy.
- Arman Yeremyan
, representing Armenia. He competed in the
Men's 80 kg
(middleweight). On August 10, he advanced from the preliminaries to the quarterfinals where he was defeated by
Sebastian Crismanich
of Argentina. Sebastian went on to win the gold medal.
- Sorn Davin
, representing Cambodia. She competed in the
Women's +67 kg
(heavyweight).
- Seulki Kang
, representing the Central African Republic. She competed in the
Women's 49 kg
(flyweight). On August 8, she was defeated in the preliminary round against
Lucija Zaninovi?
of Croatia.
- Gabriel Mercedes
, representing the Dominican Republic. He was a silver medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He was a favorite to win his country's third medal. He competed in the
Men's 58 kg
(flyweight). Mercedes lasted one round and a half. A bad move shattered the meniscus and the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He kept fighting with evident pain, before he limped away in tears.
[3]
- Nadin Dawani
, representing Jordan. She competed in the
Women's +67 kg
(heavyweight).
- Andrea Paoli
, representing Lebanon. She competed in the
Women's 57 kg
(lightweight). On August 8, she advanced from the preliminary round to the quarterfinals by defeating
Nidia Munoz
of Cuba. In the quarterfinals, she lost against
Tseng Li-Cheng
of Taipei and did not advance to the bronze medal match.
- Maria Espinoza
, representing Mexico. Maria was a gold medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She competed in the
Women's +67 kg
(heavyweight).
- Wiam Dislam
, representing Morocco. She competed in the
Women's +67 kg
(heavyweight).
- Tameem Al-Kubati
, representing Yemen. He competed in the
Men's 58 kg
(flyweight). On August 8, he advanced from the preliminaries to the quarterfinals by defeating
Gabriel Mercedes
of the Dominican Republic (8-3). In the quarterfinals, he was defeated by
Oscar Munoz
of Colombia (2-14).
In addition,
Sarah Stevenson
, representing the host nation, Great Britain, took the athlete's oath at the opening ceremony.
Participating nations
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A total of 128 athletes from 63 nations competed in taekwondo at the London Games. Only six nations brought four athletes: Egypt, Great Britain, Korea, Mexico, Russia, and the United States.
Controversy
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British taekwondo practitioner
Aaron Cook
was involved in controversy relating to selection for the games. Although ranked number one in the world, Great Britain decided to send
Lutalo Muhammad
, ranked 59th. Cook appealed the omission claiming that he was overlooked because he stepped outside of Britain's training program and found his own coach, but the World Taekwondo Federation found that no rules were broken during the selection process.
[4]
References
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External links
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Media related to
Taekwondo at the 2012 Summer Olympics
at Wikimedia Commons
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