Lesley Jackson’s eyes nearly popped out when she tuned into the Olympic taekwondo. What she thought would be four days of static bouncing and unnecessary shouting turned into a technical foot fest and a final day with more high drama than a night at the opera.
It was four days of bouncing, twitching and an extra ordinary last day of drama as the second week of the Olympics was the time for taekwondo, with the place being Beijing’s science and technology building where the Judo was held previously. South Korea, the motherland of WTF Taekwondo, showed the rest of the world how to score points and win gold medals which kept the audience hooked until the last few seconds when match points were clinched in the finals to claim the top prize. The men’s 68Kg saw South Korea’s 20 year old Taejin Son snatch gold from USA’s Mark Lopez in the actual last second of the final, to win his first major international title. Again, the women’s 57Kg saw South Korea’s Sujeong Lim take the gold medal from Turkey’s Tanrikulu in the final few seconds demonstrating South Korea’s dominance in the lightweight divisions. In the women’s 67Kg, Korea’s Kyungseon Hwang took the gold as well as Iran’s Hadi Saei in the men’s 80Kg. In the +80Kg men, Korea’s Cha Dong-ming won gold and Mexico’s Maria del Rosario Espinoza won the heavyweight women’s contest, giving South Korea a total of four gold medals.
However, as brilliant and dramatic as the South Koreans are at their own national sport, one cannot talk about international competitive WTF taekwondo without mentioning the USA’s Lopez family who had no less than three siblings competing in this year’s Olympics. The women’s 57Kg saw Diana Lopez win bronze, men’s 68Kg Mark Lopez get silver and Steve Lopez get bronze in the men’s 80Kg. Not since the St Louis Olympics in 1904 have there been so many brothers and sisters taking part in the same sport in the same games but this time, each one of them claimed a medal as well.
Controversy
How could we go for two whole paragraphs without mentioning the dramatic events of the final day of taekwondo competition? Where on earth do we begin?
At the beginning of course!
The second round of Team GB’s Sarah Stevenson against the previous gold medal holder, China’s Chen Zhong, caused a rumpus that was enough to spill the tea from many an English person’s cup. Although Stevenson was down a point in the women’s heavyweight division, she snatched a decisive two point head kick in the final few seconds of the match. Or so we thought. The points were not recognised by the referee or judges to the shock of Sarah, her coach and the nation as we collectively spat milky tea to the sound of “WE WAS ROBBED!” More astonishing yet was that the GB protest was upheld by the judges and Stevenson reinstated into the semi final. The decision was correct in this place as there was certainly a miscarriage of judging here but never have I seen the actual result overturned. It has to be said that the Chinese team were gracious in the decision, but the same couldn’t be said for the mostly Chinese spectators as Stevenson took to the floor again to fight the eventual gold winning Mexican. Fortunately, Sarah went onto win the bronze medal, Team GB’s first in the taekwondo, but the repercussions and insinuations about the poor judging and weak referring will be discussed in the world of taekwondo for a long time after the closing ceremony.
The drama didn’t stop there though. Later on in the day, the men’s heavyweight competition threw up its own storm as the Cuban player, Angel Matos, was disqualified in the match for the bronze medal as he took longer than the given 60 seconds seeing to an injury. This was controversial enough and temporarily gained the audience’s sympathy as he was subject to an officious ref. But a moment’s stupidity has led to a lifetime’s ban from the WTF as Matos decided that kicking the referee in the head and shoving another official was a wise idea. Led away in disgrace, Matos did a good job of blackening the name of taekwondo as the world was witness to a brattish response to what would have otherwise been a sympathetic situation.
What are the implications of Saturday’s events? Well certainly the judging has to be overhauled. Before the conspiracy theorists start putting two and two together and making five due to the unfortunate coincidence of Sarah Stevenson’s opponent being Chinese, the scoring system was not working. Too many of the athletes’ points were not being acknowledged with the referees making weak decisions. Either the introduction of a video playback to decide close points or electronic sensors in the chest and head guards maybe the answer, or judges and referees who are strong enough to make the right decision in the first place.
However, what is more worrying is the conduct of the Cuban athlete who was guilty of common assault. The day of controversy and poor behaviour may bring some people to question taekwondo’s place in the Olympic games in the first place if it causes this much trouble. Those who do not take part in a martial art may not realise that this behaviour is very rare in a martial arts training hall or competition and never tolerated. The martial arts are based on respect and courtesy with the athletes always bowing and showing good manners at the end of each bout. The Cuban’s flair of violence has left the taekwondo tournament with a bitter taste in its mouth and which we trust is lost by 2012 as we hope taekwondo is left in as an Olympic sport.
Team GB
Out of the eight divisions available in these Olympics, team GB produced three players that qualified for 2008. First of all was 18 year old Michael Harvey in the men’s 58 Kg. Although he fought an intelligent and brave tournament, his technically proficient footwork was not enough to win him a bronze medal in the repechage against the player from Afghanistan, Nikpai. Harvey cannot be despondent with his performance as although he was also beaten in extra time by Mexico’s Perez, who was the eventual gold medallist, at only 18 years of age he has plenty of time to prepare for London 2012 where he will have matured into an experienced international player.
Olympic Judo
Lesley Jackson has been glued to the television in order to report the results of the Olympic Judo in Beijing. The mat has provided some highs and lows but has never failed to entertain as in this most international of events, it has been Japan who have earned the right to chant, ‘Judo’s coming home!’
Next came the 17 year old Aaron Cook who competed in the under 80Kg category. His display of quick fire taekwondo, taking his opponents out for 7 points before the end of the match was amazing. This young man, whose technical display of superior footwork shows proficiency beyond his years, took his early martial arts inspiration from the Power Rangers. Aaron fought his way through to the bronze medal match but was unfortunately beaten by his Italian opponent and with no disrespect to the Italians; many of Aaron’s points were again missed by the judging that was so dramatically brought into question the following day. Never mind, we are sure that the White Power Ranger will be back for a medal in 2012 where he will have honed his sharp kicking speed for the home crowd.
The last word must lay with Doncaster’s Sarah Stevenson. Despite the controversy surrounding Saturday 23 Augusts events, she managed to dust herself down and continued to fight her way through to win the bronze medal. Beijing was her third Olympics; eight years of Olympic competition for this 25 year old to win Britain’s first taekwondo medal. In international taekwondo, tenacity is a virtue.
Lesley Jackson’s eyes nearly popped out when she tuned into the Olympic taekwondo. What she thought would be four days of static bouncing and unnecessary shouting turned into a technical foot fest and a final day with more high drama than a night at the opera.
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