Rashad Ahmadov ( az, Rəşəd Əhmədov; born January 5, 1981, in

Yevlakh Yevlakh ( az, Yevlax, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, 265 km west of capital Baku. It is surrounded by, but administratively separate from, the Yevlakh District. Etymology The settlement is mentioned by the 13th century Armenian historian Step ...

) is an Azerbaijani

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

practitioner. He is a four-time medalist at the

European Taekwondo Championships The European Taekwondo Championships are the European senior championships in Taekwondo, first held in Barcelona in 1976. The event is held every two years and is organized by the European Taekwondo Union, the continental affiliate of World Taekw ...

, and a two-time bronze medalist for the welterweight division at the

World Taekwondo Championships The World Taekwondo Championship is held every two years by World Taekwondo. Competitions 1 Wuxi, China, was originally selected to host the 2021 World Taekwondo Championships. Due to the impact of the Global COVID-19 pandemic, Wuxi gave up ...

(

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the O ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

). Ahmadov made his official debut for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where he competed in the men's welterweight category (80 kg). He defeated Trinidad and Tobago's

Chinedum Osuji Chinedum Osuji (born December 15, 1976) is the Eduardo D. Glandt Presidential Professor and the departmental chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering (CBE) at University of Pennsylvania. He is also a former Taekwondo Olympian and represen ...

and France's

Christophe Negrel Christophe Negrel (born May 25, 1977 in Marseille) is a French taekwondo practitioner, who competed in the men's welterweight category. He picked up a total of eight medals in his career, including three from the European Championships and a sil ...

in the first two rounds, before losing out the semi-final match by a superiority decision to Turkey's

Bahri Tanrıkulu Bahri Tanrıkulu (born March 16, 1980 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish taekwondo practitioner, who competed in the Men's 80 kg division at the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece and won the silver medal. He studied at Akdeniz University. ...

. Ahmadov was eventually beaten by Iran's

Youssef Karami Yousef Karami ( fa, یوسف کرمی; born March 22, 1983, in Meyaneh, Iran) is an Iranian taekwondo athlete who competed in the Men's 80 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal. He is also the 2003 world champion (in 78–8 ...

in a close match for the bronze medal, with the final score of 8–9. Following his sudden defeat, the Azerbaijani team stormed the fighting area, and launched a resentful protest at Olympic officials. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, Ahmadov qualified for the second time in the men's 80 kg class after placing second from the European Qualification Tournament in

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. Ahmadov defeated Qatar's

Abdulqader Hikmat Sarhan Abdulqader Hikmat Sarhan (born August 19, 1987) is a male Qatari Taekwondo practitioner. He won the gold medal in the welterweight category (-78 kg) at the 2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is ...

in the preliminary round and Canada's

Sébastien Michaud Sébastien Michaud (born May 7, 1987) started in taekwondo at the age of five, following in his father's and brothers footsteps. Born in Joliette, Quebec, he currently resides in Quebec City, Quebec where he studies software engineering at Univer ...

by a superiority decision in the quarterfinals. He repeated his fate in the semi-final match from the previous games, when he lost to former heavyweight champion

Hadi Saei Hadi Saei ( fa, هادی ساعی, born June 10, 1976) is an Iranian councilor and former taekwondo athlete who became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history and the most titled champion in this sport by winning 9 world class titl ...

of Iran, with a score of 1–4. Ahmadov automatically qualified for the bronze medal bout, where he was defeated in a tight match against American taekwondo jin and two-time defending champion

Steven López Steven López (born November 9, 1978) is an American taekwondo competitor, a 2000 and 2004 Olympic gold medalist (in the -68 and -80 kg divisions, respectively) and a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist (again in the -80 kg division) and 4th ...

, with a final score of 2–3.

References

External links

*
NBC 2008 Olympics profile
Azerbaijani male taekwondo practitioners 1981 births Living people Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Azerbaijan Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2008 Summer Olympics European Taekwondo Championships medalists World Taekwondo Championships medalists 20th-century Azerbaijani people 21st-century Azerbaijani people {{Azerbaijan-taekwondo-bio-stub