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Kim Yu-jin of South Korea points to the national flag, Taegeukgi, on her uniform after winning the gold medal in the women's -57-kilogram taekwondo event at the Paris Olympics at Grand Palais in Paris on Thursday. (Yonhap) |
PARIS -- Kim Yu-jin, the latest Olympic taekwondo champion from South Korea, took a far more circuitous road to Paris than her teammates and many others who fancy themselves as medal contenders.
Of the four South Korean taekwondo practitioners in Paris, Kim, who won the women's -57-kilogram gold medal on Thursday, had the lowest world ranking position at No. 24. Her three teammates, Park Tae-joon in the men's -58kg, Seo Geon-woo in the men's -80kg, and Lee Da-bin in the women's +67kg, were all inside the top five in the World Taekwondo (WT) rankings as of December last year. They received automatic berths for the Olympics.
South Korea could add one more athlete to its Olympic team through the Asian qualification tournament. And since the country already had two male practitioners qualified, South Korea could only fight for one spot on the women's side at the regional competition.
The Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) had to choose whom to send in which weight class. It settled on the -57kg, after considering many different factors, including the level of competition and the likelihood that a South Korean athlete could survive the regional qualifiers.
Kim won the national team trials in that weight division, and traveled to China in March for her last-chance qualification tournament.
She ended up being one of the top two finishers, after defeating Julie Mam of Cambodia.
A lot was riding on Kim at the Asian qualification event.
Until the 2012 London Olympics, countries could only send a maximum two men and two women, so that no single country could dominate the medal race. That restriction was lifted prior to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and each country can now qualify one athlete per weight class -- for a maximum of eight per country.
South Korea had five practitioners in 2016 and six in 2021 at the Tokyo Games.
However, due to poor international performances leading up to Paris, only three South Korean practitioners qualified via world ranking positions this year. The country needed any extra athlete it could find to send to Paris. It wouldn't be a good look for the birthplace of taekwondo to only have three athletes at the Olympics.
Kim, 23, came through for the country and for herself by grabbing that Olympic ticket. And then she did something few, if any, expected her to do by capturing her gold Thursday night.
At the national team media day in June, Kim recalled how difficult it had been to go through the national team trials and then the Asian tournament just to earn her place in the Olympics.
"I felt so much pressure to come home with an Olympic berth secured," Kim said. "Compared to that, the Olympic tournament is nothing."
Kim might have exaggerated a bit then, but she bulldozed her competition Thursday as if she really didn't feel any pressure at all.
Kim kicked world ranking positions out the window at the iconic Grand Palais. In her first match, Kim defeated Hatice Kubra Ilgun of Turkiye, the 2021 bronze medalist and world No. 5, by 2-0 (7-5, 7-2). It was a shockingly easy win for Kim.
In the quarterfinals, Kim dispatched world No. 4 from Canada, Sklyar Park, who went down 2-0 (7-6, 9-5).
Even the top-ranked practitioner in this weight class, Luo Zongshi of China, couldn't do much against Kim. Luo has won a world title, two Asian Games gold medals, and one Asian continental championship. An Olympic gold here would have been the final piece of puzzle for Luo, but Kim beat her in the semifinals 2-1 (7-0, 1-7, 10-3).
In the final, Nahid Kiani of Iran, world No. 2, stood between Kim and the top of the podium, and the South Korean was determined not to let years of hard work go to waste. Kim closed out Kiani by winning the second round 9-0. Kiani could do next to nothing against the tall and athletic South Korean.
"When I prepare for matches, I always believe that I can beat anyone as long as I don't beat myself," Kim said. "That has not changed here. Knowing how hard I've worked to come this far, I tried to have faith in myself."
Looking back on her Olympic preparation, Kim said she sometimes wondered if it would all be worth it.
"There were times when I was so exhausted that I wanted to quit," she said. "And I think I've been able to win so many matches today because of all that training."
Kim was not regarded as a medal contender at all. Given that her first opponent was the bronze medalist from the previous Olympics, many probably didn't even expect Kim to make it past the round of 16. Kim proved detractors wrong and then some.
"It's true that people didn't really expect me to do much," Kim said. "I am just glad I was able to prove my worth today."
She said Park Tae-joon's winning the gold on the first day of taekwondo here lifted some pressure off her shoulders.
"I just wanted to go out and enjoy the experience. And it worked out really well," Kim said. "Tae-joon gave me some good advice as well."
At 23 and a long career ahead of her, Kim said she wants to be remembered as an athlete who never stops pushing and challenging herself.
"In the long term, I want to compete at the 2028 Olympics," she said. "I also want to make the national team for the world championships next year."
