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

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

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 b ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

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

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at the

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. The

World Taekwondo Federation World Taekwondo, formerly the World Taekwondo Federation, is an international federation governing the sport of Taekwondo and Para Taekwondo. WT is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). The World Taek ...

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

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 title ...

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 receives ...

match. The decision was later ratified by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

.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
''

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'' 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

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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, officially the XIV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santo Domingo 2003, were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the Games was made in the mid-1990 ...

, Matos was defeated 4–1 by eventual gold medalist Steven López.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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, 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. Swedish 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

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

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 a Cuban Digital Newspaper 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 (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.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 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 gold medalists in taekwondo Pan American Games silver medalists in taekwondo Sportspeople banned for life Taekwondo practitioners at the 1999 Pan American Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 2003 Pan American Games Taekwondo practitioners at the 2007 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 sportsmen