Panipak Wongpattanakit ended her career on a high note by becoming the first Thai athlete to win two Olympic gold medals on Wednesday.
Wongpattanakit defended her title from the Tokyo Games to give Thailand its first gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Park Tae-joon also helped restore South Korea’s pride on the first day of taekwondo events.
Wongpattanakit, who is retiring, celebrated her win by taking a Thai flag and jumping into her coach’s arms.
“I have so much pain,” she said before her 27th birthday. “I had a broken knee. And my ankle, my hip… Now, I have to retire.”
Wongpattanakit, who easily won her first three matches to reach the final in the 49-kilogram category, fell behind in the first round against Guo Qing of China but made a comeback with two impressive kicks to the body and head.
Guo came back to force a deciding round, but Wongpattanakit won after video reviews showed she had landed two spectacular head kicks.
The new rules at the Paris Games mean bouts are decided by a best-of-three format rather than by total points.
Taekwondo is a key sport for South Korea, and the country was disappointed in Tokyo when it didn’t win any gold medals for the first time since the sport became an Olympic event in 2000.
Park fixed that by dominating his opponent in the final to win the gold medal. “It was my childhood dream,” Park said.
In the men’s 58-kilogram class, Park defeated Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan, who struggled with an injury. Magomedov fell to the ground in the first round, holding his leg in pain. After treatment, he tried to continue but was unable to score any points.
Magomedov was helped off the mat but returned for the second round. Despite his efforts, Park ended the match with a brilliant turning kick to the head.
Magomedov’s tough time lasted a bit longer as Park delivered a final kick to his back, sending him out of the arena. This final blow led Magomedov to stop the fight.
“In Tokyo, South Korea did not win a gold medal, which was a bit frustrating and sad. Today, I’m honored and proud. The whole team has worked hard to be ready for this,” Park said.
Mobina Nematzadeh of Iran and Lena Stojkovic of Croatia won bronze medals in the women’s tournament. The men’s bronze medals went to Cyrian Ravet of France and Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia.
In Olympic taekwondo, two bronze medals are awarded, with the losing semifinalists facing the competitors who lost to the finalists in earlier rounds.
