Olympic taekwondo results August 17: Zhao, Kim win flyweight gold
By John Buhler
The Men’s and Women’s Flyweight Divisions in Olympic taekwondo saw China’s Zhao Shuai and South Korea’s Kim So-Hui win gold in their respective events.
The first day of Olympic taekwondo in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro is in the books, with eight individuals taking home Olympic medals in the Flyweight Divisions. As it is with other combat Olympic sports, there are two bronze medals awarded in each weight class on account of repechage.
Winning gold in the Men’s 58 kilogram weight class was China’s Zhao Shuai. He started out as the No. 8 seed in the tournament, upsetting Mexico’s Carlos Navarro in the semifinals and besting Thailand’s Tawin Hanprab for Olympic gold in the finals.
Perhaps Hanprab’s path to Olympic silver was even more impressive than Zhao’s run to gold. Hanprab was the tournament’s No. 15 seed, upsetting eventual bronze medalist Kim Tae-Hun of South Korea in the first round, Australia’s Safwan Khalil in the quarterfinals, and eventual bronze medalist Luisito Pie of the Dominican Republic in the semifinals. Both Kim and Pie would earn their respective bronze medals during repechage.
MEDAL RESULT | Men's 58 kg
Winning Olympic gold in the Women’s 49 kilogram weight class was Kim So-Hui of South Korea. Kim started out as the No. 7 seed in the tournament, upsetting No. 2 seed and eventual bronze medalist Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand in the quarterfinals, No. 6 seed Yasmina Aziez of France in the semifinals, and Serbia’s No. 8 seeded Tijana Bogdanovic in the finals.
Bogdanovic upset top-seeded Wu Jingyu of China in the quarterfinals and No. 5 of Mexico in Itzel Manjarrez in the semifinals before being knocked out by Kim in the Flyweight finals. Wongpattanakit and Azerbaijan’s No. 9 seed Patimat Abakarova won their respective bronze medals during the repechage stage of the tournament.
MEDAL RESULT | Women's 49 kg
Through only one day of Olympic taekwondo, there were an absurd number of upsets. Both Flyweight Division champions weren’t even top four seeds. The No. 1 seeds in both tournament brackets didn’t even earn a medal. Here’s to another enticing day of Olympic taekwondo on Thursday and throughout the weekend.