List of Olympic medalists in taekwondo
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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 ...
is an
Olympic sport Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing ...
that is contested at the Summer Olympic Games. It was introduced in the
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and 1992 Olympic Games as a demonstration sport, and made its debut as a full medal sport 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 ...
in Sydney, Australia. Both men and women compete in four events each defined by separate
weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Altern ...
: flyweight, featherweight, middleweight and heavyweight. Traditionally, taekwondo competitions consist of eight weight classes for each gender, but Olympic taekwondo only has four due to the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC) limiting the total number of taekwondo entrants to 128. The competitions are conducted in accordance with the rules established by the
World Taekwondo 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 Taekw ...
(WT). The competition format for taekwondo is a
single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
to determine the gold and silver medal winners, and a
repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...
is used to determine the bronze medal winner(s). in
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and 2004, a single repechage final determined the sole bronze medal winner, but a rule change in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
created two repechage finals that allowed for the bronze medal to be shared between two competitors. Iranian
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 ...
(2 gold, 1 bronze), American Steven López (2 gold, 1 bronze), South Korean Hwang Kyung-Seon (2 gold, 1 bronze) and Mexican María del Rosario Espinoza (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) share the most medals in Taekwondo with three. By defending her title at 2012 London Olympics, Hwang Kyung-Seon became the first woman ever to win three Olympic taekwondo medals. Hadi Saei and Steven López, along with Huang Chih-hsiung of Chinese Taipei, are the only three athletes to have won medals in multiple weight classes. Spanish
Adriana Cerezo Adriana Cerezo Iglesias (born 24 November 2003) is a Spanish taekwondo athlete who won the silver medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan/ Career She won the gold medal in her debut at the European Taekwondo Championships, at only ...
is the youngest athlete to win a medal (17 years, 242 days) and Hadi Saei is the oldest (32 years, 2 months, 13 days).
Rohullah Nikpai Rohullah Nikpai ( prs, روح‌الله نیکپا; born June 15, 1987) is an ethnic Hazara taekwondo practitioner and two-time Olympic bronze medalist from Afghanistan. Career Nikpai started his training in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the age of ...
of
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
became his country's first ever Olympic medalist with a bronze medal in 2008.
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
has been the most successful nation in Olympic taekwondo, winning 22 medals (12 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze). China is the second most successful nation with 11 medals (7 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze). A total of 32 gold medals, 32 silver medals and 48 bronze medals have been awarded since 2000 and have been won by athletes from 33 National Olympic Committees (NOC). __NOTOC__


Men


Flyweight (58 kg)


Featherweight (68 kg)


Middleweight (80 kg)


Heavyweight (+80 kg)


Women


Flyweight (49 kg)


Featherweight (57 kg)


Middleweight (67 kg)


Heavyweight (+67 kg)


Statistics


Athlete medal leaders

Athletes who won at least two medals are listed below. The years indicate the Olympics at which the medals were won.


Medals per year


See also

*
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 u ...
* World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships *
Lists of Olympic medalists This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...


References

;General * *
200020042008
* ;Specific {{Taekwondo at the Summer Olympics
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 ...
Taekwondo at the Summer Olympics * Lists of taekwondo practitioners