Park Tae-joon (taekwondo)

This article is about the taekwondo athlete. For the businessman, see Park Tae-joon.
Park Tae-joon
Park at the 2024 Olympics
Personal information
NationalitySouth Korea
Born (2004-06-06) 6 June 2004 (age 20)
Ulsan, South Korea
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Sport
SportTaekwondo
Event(s)54 kg, 58 kg
University teamKyung Hee University
Medal record
Representing  South Korea
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2024 Paris 58 kg
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2023 Baku 54 kg
Grand Prix
Gold medal – first place 2022 Manchester 58 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Taiyuan 58 kg
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Chuncheon 54 kg
Silver medal – second place 2024 Da Nang 54 kg
Asian Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Amman 45 kg
Updated on 2 April 2024

Park Tae-joon (Korean: 박태준; born June 6, 2004) is a South Korean taekwondo athlete.[1][2] He won a gold medal in his World Taekwondo Championships debut in the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Park participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France, where he won the gold medal in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event.[3][4][unreliable source?]

In the most recent 2024 March World Taekwondo ranking, Park is ranked 1st in the men's -54 kg (finweight) World Kyorugi Category, and is ranked 5th in the men's -58 kg (flyweight) Olympic Kyorugi Category.[3][5]

Career

Cadet

In 2016, Park won a gold medal at the Russian Open Tournament in the Cadet Male flyweight (-37 kg) event.[6]

Junior

In 2019, Park won a gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in the Juniors Male finweight (-45 kg) event.[7] Wuhoo

Senior

In 2022, Park won his first gold medal in the Senior category at the 2022 Asian Taekwondo Championships in the Men's finweight (-54 kg) event. He also won gold medals that year at the Korea Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Chuncheon, in the men's finweight (-54 kg) event, and at the 2022 World Taekwondo Grand Prix held in Manchester, in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event.

In February 2023, Park won a gold medal in the Canada Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Vancouver, in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event.[8] In March, he won a gold medal at the US Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Las Vegas, in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event.[9] He later won a gold medal at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in June, his first senior category World Championships in the men's finweight (-54 kg) event.[10] He was given the men's most valuable player award, as a recognition of his outstanding performance during the Championships.[11]

In October 2023, Park participated in Series 3 of the Grand Prix Series and won a bronze medal after losing a fight of 2-1 against Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi. In February 2024, he won a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics dispatch national team selection, thus qualifying to compete in the Olympics in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event.[12] He defeated a previous Olympic medalist, Jang Jun, 2-0 to qualify.[13][unreliable source?]

During the 2024 Summer Olympics, Park won a gold medal in the men's 58 kg category. He defeated Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia and Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan.[3] His win has been described as an upswing for South Korea, as it did not win any Taekwondo gold medals while participating in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ "Taekwondo Data "PARK, Tae-Joon"". Taekwondo Data. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Athlete Profile "Tae-joon PARK"". World Taekwondo. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Yoo, Jee-ho (2024-08-08). "(LEAD) (Olympics) Park Tae-joon wins gold medal in men's taekwondo". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  4. ^ Jungwoo, Lim (February 2, 2024). "After choosing a change like a right-handed pitcher throwing a ball with his left hand, he won the Olympic berth". MK.
  5. ^ "World Taekwondo Rankings". World Taekwondo. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Taekwondo Tournament Russian Open 2016" (PDF). Centr Vostok. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  7. ^ "10TH ASIAN JUNIOR TAEKWONDO CHAMPIONSHIPS - G2" (PDF). Martial Arts Registration Online. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  8. ^ "2023 Canada Open Senior Medalist" (PDF). Taekwondo Canada. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  9. ^ "2023 US Open Day 2 Medalist" (PDF). Martial Arts Registration Online. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Baku 2023 World Taekwondo Championships Results Day 5". World Taekwondo. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  11. ^ "World Taekwondo President praises historic success of Baku 2023 World Taekwondo Championships". World Taekwondo. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Taejun Park wins 2 games against Jun Jang and is confirmed to participate in the Paris Olympics". KPNP (in Korean and English). Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  13. ^ Kang, Daeho (20 February 2024). "World No. 5 Park Tae-joon (20, Kyung Hee University) made an unusual move to push back Jang Jun (24, Korea Gas Corporation)'s challenge to the men's taekwondo career Super Grand Slam by at least four years". Maeil Business News Korea (in Korean, English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Taekwondo recap, Aug. 7: Panipak, Park take gold in flyweight | NBC Olympics". www.nbcolympics.com. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  15. ^ Ji-Hwan, Paik (August 7, 2024). "Korea invented Taekwondo. They've now been outperformed. Can this year's Olympians smash the slump?". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved August 7, 2024.