Ángel Valodia Matos Fuentes (born December 24, 1976, in Holguín) is a former

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

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. He received a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

,"2000 Summer Olympics – Sydney, Australia – Taekwondo"
''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on April 5, 2008) and added another at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic C ...

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. The

World Taekwondo Federation World Taekwondo, called the World Taekwondo Federation until June 2017, is an international federation governing the sport of taekwondo and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). The ''World Taekwo ...

banned Matos and his coach for life following an incident at the 2008 Summer Olympics where Matos kicked the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

Chakir Chelbat in the face, after being disqualified in the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

match. The decision was later ratified by the IOC.Cuban kicked out after taekwondo disgrace
''Sydney Morning Herald Aug 25, 2008'' He was also banned for life by the same committee.

2000 Summer Olympics

At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Matos was gold medalist in the men's middleweight (80 kg) class.Staff report (August 9, 2004)
The Olympians
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' In the first round, he defeated Felipe Soto Alvarez of

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9–2. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Victor Manuel Estrada Garibay of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

2–0, besting Swede Roman Livaja in the semifinals, 4–0. In the gold medal match Matos defeated

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's Faissal Ebnoutalib 3–1.Staff report (September 29, 2000)
Summer Olympics 2000 Results - Taekwondo
ESPN.com

2004 Summer Olympics

Matos was the defending Olympic welterweight champion. At the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. ...

, Matos was defeated 4–1 by eventual gold medalist

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 4 ...

.Weir, Tom (August 2, 2004)
Lopez kicks his way to Athens with help from family
''

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'' He was not a medalist at Athens in 2004, being ousted by Mexican Estrada 8–7, in the preliminary round of 16.

2008 Summer Olympics

In the bronze medal match in the men's 80+ kg class 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 Nat ...

, Matos was set against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov. After he incurred a foot injury (at which point he led the match 3-2), he took a Kyeshi ("suspend", medical timeout). Under

tournament rules, players sustaining injury are allowed one minute of Kyeshi time, at the end of which the competitor in question must return to the center of the ring to resume the fight, request further time, or forfeit the match.

referee Chakir Chelbat gave a time warning at 40 seconds, but Kyeshi elapsed without Matos returning to the center. The referee ruled while he was sitting awaiting medical attention that he had taken too long during his time out and subsequently ruled he had retired. "To me it was obvious he was unable to continue," his opponent Arman Chilmanov of Kazakhstan said. "His toe on his left foot was broken." After Chilmanov was declared the winner, Matos briefly argued with Chelbat and then kicked him in the face, punched a judge in the arm, and spat on the floor of the arena before being escorted out by security with his coach, Leudis Gonzalez. After the fight, Yang Jin-suk, the secretary general of the World Taekwondo Federation, apologised and said "This is an insult to the Olympic vision, an insult to the spirit of taekwondo and, in my opinion, an insult to mankind." Hours later, the WTF banned Matos and González from WTF-sanctioned events for life; in a statement announcing its decision, the WTF called Matos' behaviour "a strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games." It also deleted Matos' results from the 2008 Olympics from the records. Matos's coach Leudis González said of the referee's initial decision to end the fight, "He was too strict..." and accused the Kazakhstan team of offering bribes. Former Cuban

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...

also defended Matos, saying he was rightfully indignant over his disqualification. "I saw when the judges blatantly stole fights from two Cuban boxers in the semifinals," Castro wrote.

Subsequent activities

In a 2018 interview with the ''

Havana Times ''Havana Times'' is an independent Cuban blog and online magazine founded in 2008. The online publication is edited in Nicaragua. Most of its contributors live in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo. There are also Cuban contributors in Venez ...

'', Matos expressed his regret at his actions at the 2008 Summer Olympics, stating that he had wished to continue his taekwondo career at least until the next year's World Championships. However, Matos still believes that it was judge's unfair decision that cost him a fight. At the time of this interview, Matos worked as a trainer at a

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

gym.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matos, Angel 1976 births Living people Cuban male taekwondo practitioners Taekwondo practitioners at the 2000 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2007 Pan American Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Cuba Olympic gold medalists for Cuba Violence in sports Olympic medalists in taekwondo Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Pan American Games silver medalists for Cuba Pan American Games medalists in taekwondo Sportspeople banned for life Taekwondo practitioners at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Taekwondo controversies Sportspeople from Holguín 21st-century Cuban people