Paris, France, August 7, 2024: Thailand can always rely on “Tennis” to bring home a medal at the Olympic Games.
No, not the sport, but the Kingdom’s taekwondo ace Panipak Wongpattanakit, whose father nicknamed her “Tennis” due to the family’s love of the sport.
Now Panipak has three Olympic medals to her name after defending her women’s -49kg title from Tokyo 2020 at Grand Palais in Paris on Wednesday. She also won a bronze medal at Rio 2016.
On the opening day of taekwondo at Paris 2024, Panipak retained her crown with a 2-1 victory (6-3, 2-3, 6-1) over Guo Qing of China and is now one of only three female taekwondo players with three Olympic medals.
Panipak, who celebrates her 27th birthday on Thursday, August 8, said Paris 2024 would be her last Olympics.
"I have many problems with my ankle and my hip. I have to retire. But I have a gym in Thailand. If you want to learn taekwondo, come train with me,” she said.
Guo said she was not intimidated by facing the defending champion in the final. "I didn't feel much pressure. I want to showcase my strength and my skills, the result of my training. I didn't feel pressure at all."
*Mobina Nematzadeh of Iran beat Dunya Ali M Abutaleb of Saudi Arabia 2-0 to claim bronze and become the second woman from Iran to win an Olympic medal.
GOLD FOR KOREA
The home of taekwondo celebrated a gold medal when Park Tae-joon won the men’s -58kg competition.
In the final, Park crouched down, bowed and hugged his fallen opponent Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan with 62 seconds still to go. Magomedov had to withdraw from the match through injury.
Park, 20, was dominant at his first Olympic Games.
“Korea didn't have gold in the Tokyo Olympic Games, and that was a little bit sad as a taekwondo player. But in this game, I was able to get the gold medal and give the medal to the country. I feel appreciation, and I feel honoured by this experience. It was not just me. Everybody at Team Korea worked hard to prepare for the Olympic Games."
Park was leading Magomedov 13-1 in the second period when his opponent withdrew through injury, which awarded the Korean a 1-0 score.
"In the match, you have to do your best. That is the respect for the opponent until the match is officially over,” said Park, whose Olympic dream began when he watched the London Olympics in 2012 on TV.