What is behind Korea's gold drought in taekwondo?

Lee Dae-hoon, right, Korea's taekwondo athlete, congratulates Zhao Shuai of China after losing the match for the bronze medal in the men's 68-kilogram category during the Tokyo Olympics, at Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, Japan, Sunday. Yonhap

By Lee Min-hyung

• Published Jul 26, 2021 5:00 PM KST
• Updated Jul 27, 2021 10:59 AM KST

By Lee Min-hyung

With Korea's Olympic taekwondo team getting off to a rough start without a gold medal, their lack of real match experience ― induced by the global pandemic shock ― has emerged as a major reason behind their relatively poor performance.

The six-member national taekwondo team headed for Tokyo on anticipation of extending their winning streak in the country's homegrown martial art. Back in the previous Olympics in 2016, Korea clinched two gold and three bronze medals.

But three out of the four taekwondo athletes finished off of the podium as of Sunday, with just Jang Jun ― a 21-year-old rising star ― winning the bronze in the men's 58-kilogram competition. Jang is ranked first in the world in his weight class, but he ended up losing his match against Tunisia's Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi in the semifinal.

Strong medal hopeful Lee Dae-hoon, a two-time Olympic medalist and the world's No. 1 taekwondo athlete in the men's 68-kilogram category, was eliminated in the round of 16. His defeat came as a big shock to fans here and abroad, as Lee was the strongest contender for gold among the Korean athletes participating in the Olympics.

Lee is one of the most experienced taekwondo athletes here, having competed in the Olympics since 2012, when he took home the silver in the men's 58-kilogram competition. He also won the bronze in the 2016 Olympics, and has since obtained a global reputation as a top-tier taekwondo practitioner.

Korea's unexpected gold drought in taekwondo is widely attributable to Korean athletes' weak level of international experience after the outbreak of the coronavirus early last year. Athletes in Europe, however, have been taking part in real tournaments in an active manner even while the world has been grappling with the pandemic shock for the past year.

Lee Ah-reum, who also lost her match in the round of 16 in the women's 57-kilogram competition, said that the lack of real competition experience before the Olympics was the key reason behind her failure to reach a higher position in the competition. She was narrowly defeated by Lo Chia-ling of Taiwan.

“We have had limited chances to participate in real tournament matches due to the pandemic, but this was not the case for European athletes,” Lee told reporters in a post-match interview. “I could not show what I had prepared. I was not good enough.”

Lee Chang-geon, coach for Korea's taekwondo delegation, was also worried about the team's weak degree of real match experience.

“Korean athletes have failed to compete for any open tournaments due to fears of the coronavirus spreading, while European local athletes have been able to compete in such matches,” he said.

But it still remains to be seen whether Team Korea will be able to grab additional medals during the upcoming taekwondo competition.

Two remaining taekwondo athletes ― including In Kyo-don and Lee Da-bin ― will compete for the champion title on Tuesday. In will represent the Korean team's over-80 kilogram category, and Lee will also aim for her first gold in the women's over-67 kilogram competition on the same day.

This time is the first for the five taekwondo athletes, except for Lee Dae-hoon, to compete in an Olympics.

Korea's taekwondo athletes have so far brought home 12 gold medals since the Sydney Olympics back in 2000, when the martial art was added as an official Olympic sport for the first time. This number of gold medals is the second highest, following that of archery, in which Korean athletes have clinched 23 gold medals.