Seo Geon-woo finishes 4th in men's taekwondo
Seo Geon-woo of South Korea reacts to his loss to Edi Hrnic of Denmark in their bronze medal match of the men's -80-kilogram taekwondo event at the Paris Olympics at the Grand Palais in the French capital, Aug. 9. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Seo Geon-woo finished fourth in men's taekwondo, Friday, coming up a win short of giving South Korea its third straight medal in the sport at the Paris Olympics.
Seo lost to Edi Hrnic of Denmark 2-0 (15-2, 11-8) in one of two bronze medal matches for the men's -80-kilogram event at Grand Palais in the French capital.
Seo was the first South Korean to compete in this weight class since taekwondo became an Olympic medal sport in 2000.
Earlier Friday, Seo had lost to Mehran Barkhordari of Iran 2-1 (2-4, 13-9, 12-8) in the semifinals to fall to the bronze medal match.
Olympic taekwondo matches are fought over two-minute rounds in a best-of-three format.
Seo Geon-woo of South Korea, left, competes against Edi Hrnic of Denmark during their bronze medal match of the men's -80-kilogram taekwondo event at the Paris Olympics at the Grand Palais in Paris, Aug. 9. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Against Hrnic, Seo found himself down 6-0 after just 22 seconds, with the Danish athlete connecting for three successive kicks to the body. Hrnic then got a three-point kick to the head at the end to win the round 15-2.
It was much the same story in the second round, with Hrnic going up 6-0 within the opening 21 seconds. Seo made it an 8-6 match with 45 seconds remaining, but gave away a point due to "gam-jeom," or warning, before Hrnic scored two huge points with a kick to the body with eight seconds left.
Reduced to tears after his loss, Seo said, "I think I should have worked harder for this. I could see that other athletes were better prepared."
"If I have a chance to compete at the next Olympics, I will prepare really hard for it," Seo added. "I don't want to experience a feeling like this again."
Before Seo, South Korea had collected two gold medals over the first two days of taekwondo, with Park Tae-joon winning the men's -58kg title and Kim Yu-jin taking home the women's -57kg gold medal. (Yonhap)