Lutalo Muhammad (born 3 June 1991) is a British

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

athlete who represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal, and the 2016 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal. He won the gold medal in the −87 kg class at the

2012 European Taekwondo Championships The 2012 European Taekwondo Championships were held in Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the nor ...

. He is the most successful male in British taekwondo history.

Early life

Muhammad was born on 3 June 1991 in Walthamstow, London, England. He was coached by his father, Wayne Muhammad, in the art of

from the age of three.

2012 Summer Olympics

Muhammad won the gold medal in the −87 kg class at the

. There is no −87 kg category in the Olympic Games; however, Muhammad was selected to be Britain's representative in the −80 kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics. This decision was controversial as he was selected instead of

Aaron Cook Aaron Cook may refer to: *Aaron Cook (baseball) (born 1979), Major League Baseball pitcher * Aaron Cook (footballer) (born 1979), Welsh footballer * Aaron Cook (politician), Nauruan politician *Aaron Cook (taekwondo) Aaron Arthur Cook (born 2 ...

, who was the World No. 1 and European champion in the −80 kg class. The controversy attracted considerable attention in the media. The decision drew criticism from former athletes such as John Cullen and Steve Redgrave. Muhammed received hate mail following his selection. GB performance director Gary Hall defended his selection and said "Aaron has a bigger marketing machine than the whole of GB Taekwondo", whilst fellow taekwondo competitor

Sarah Stevenson Sarah Diana Stevenson, MBE (born 30 March 1983) is a British taekwondo athlete. A world champion in 2001, Stevenson won her country's first ever Olympic medal in taekwondo, a bronze, at the 2008 Games in Beijing, her third Ol ...

dismissed the world rankings as inconsequential. Muhammad stated that "Unfortunately with the nature of sport there are always going to be winners and losers so I wish him all the best for his future, but my focus right now is not Aaron Cook, it's a gold medal in London." In the Games, Muhammad reached the quarter-finals where he lost to Nicolás García of Spain. In the repechage, he defeated Armenian

Arman Yeremyan Arman Yeremyan ( hy, Արման Երեմյան; born 29 January 1986) is an Armenian taekwondo athlete. He is an Armenian and European Champion. Yeremyan has been awarded the Master of Sport of Armenia, International Class title. Bi ...

9–3 winning a bronze medal.

2016 Summer Olympics

Muhammad won the Olympic silver medal −80 kg category improving on his bronze from 2012. Muhammad was leading 6–4 in the final before losing in the last second to Cheick Sallah Cisse of Ivory Coast. Down by two points and only one second remaining, Cisse released a spinning hook kick that landed on Muhammad's head, scoring 4 points and winning the bout.

Honours

*2008 German Open (Gold) Jnr *GLL Sports Foundation Award (2008) *Middlesex University Sportsman of the Year (2011) *2012 London Olympics (Bronze) * 2012 European Championships (Gold) *Middlesex University Sportsman of the Year (2012) *2013 National Championships (Gold) *2013 World Grand Prix Final (Gold) * 2014 European Championships (Bronze) *2014 National Championships (Gold) *2014 Commonwealth Championships (Gold) *2015 European Club Championships (Gold) *2015 European Olympic Games (Bronze) *2015 World Grand Prix Final (Gold) *2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics (Silver)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad, Lutalo 1991 births Living people English male taekwondo practitioners Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Great Britain Black British sportsmen Taekwondo practitioners at the 2012 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2016 Summer Olympics Alumni of Middlesex University Sportspeople from Manchester Sportspeople from Walthamstow Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in taekwondo Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2015 European Games European Games medalists in taekwondo European Games bronze medalists for Great Britain English people of Zimbabwean descent European Taekwondo Championships medalists