Kevin Haroldo Cordón Buezo (born 28 November 1986) is a Guatemalan

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player. He won two men's singles titles at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

, four titles at the Pan Am Championships (3 in singles and 1 in doubles), and six titles at the Central American and Caribbean Games (4 in singles and 2 in doubles). He is a five-time Olympian for Guatemala participating at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and the

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Career

Born in La Unión,

Zacapa Zacapa () is the departmental capital municipality of Zacapa Department, one of the 22 Departments of Guatemala. It is located approximately from Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capit ...

, Cordón was named after former England international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Nicknamed "King Kev" or "Mighty Mouse", Keegan was recognised for his dribbling ability, as well as his finishing and presence in the air, and is regard ...

, of whom his father was a fan. In spite of badminton not being popular in Guatemala during his childhood, he became a badminton player as he thought it would give him a better chance of one day becoming an Olympian than if he played a different sport being the first member of his family to practice the sport. He began playing at the age of 11 and by 1998 he was a part of the Zacapa Department's youth team. After winning the silver medal at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major Americas, continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of ...

, Cordón qualified to the

2008 Olympic Games 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 fr ...

and was selected as the flag bearer of his nation's Olympic team. At the Beijing Games, he lost against the #3 seeded player,

Bao Chunlai Bao Chunlai (; ; born 17 February 1983) is a retired left-handed badminton player from China. Career The tall, powerful Bao ranked among the world's leading singles player during the first decade of the 21st century. He was a member of Chi ...

from China. At the

2010 Central American and Caribbean Games The 21st Central American and Caribbean Games (Spanish: ''XXI Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, Mayagüez 2010'') took place in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, from 18 July 2010 to 1 August 2010. Bid It was understood that Mayagüez was going to b ...

, he won three gold medals in the singles, doubles, and team events, being the Guatemalan athlete with the most medals won during the games. Cordón then competed at the

2011 BWF World Championships The 2011 BWF World Championships was the 19th tournament of the World Badminton Championships, a global tournament in the sport of badminton. It was held at Wembley Arena in London, England, from August 8 to August 14, 2011. China clean swept al ...

in London, where he reached the quarterfinals after beating fifth-seeded

Chen Long Chen Long (; ; born 18 January 1989), is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He is the 2016 Badminton at the Summer Olympics, Olympic champion, two-time BWF World Championships, World champion, and an Badminton Asia Championships, ...

from China,

Henri Hurskainen Henri Mikael Hurskainen (born 13 September 1986) is a Swedish badminton player who competed for Sweden at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Hurskainen has won several gold and silver medals in badminton championships. Hurskainen was born in Em ...

from Sweden and

Pablo Abian Pablo is a masculine given name, the Spanish form of the name Paul. People * Pablo Acha (born 1996), Spanish archer * Pablo Alarcón (born 1946), Argentine actor * Pablo Alborán (born 1989), Spanish singer * Pablo Aimar (born 1979), Argentine f ...

from Spain to face the tournament's top-seeded

Lee Chong Wei Lee Chong Wei (; born 21 October 1982) is a Malaysian former professional badminton player. As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide for 349 weeks, including a 199-week streak from 21 August 2008 to 14 June 2012. He is the fifth ...

. There he lost to the Malaysian player in two straight sets. Cordón was selected as the flag bearer for the Guatemalan team at the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

, and was also the top seeded player in the men's singles event. On 20 October 2011, he won his first Pan-American Games gold medal by beating Cuban competitor

Osleni Guerrero Osleni Guerrero Velazco (born 18 October 1989) is a Cuban badminton player. He is the first Cuban badminton player to win a medal in the Pan American Games. Guerrero also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Career Guerrero, born in Havana, s ...

in the final. Cordón did not lose one set in the tournament. In 2015, he successfully defended his men's singles Pan Am Games title at the Atos Markham Pan Am Centre in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

at the

beating Canadian Andrew D'Souza 21–13, 21–14 in the final. Cordón qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics singles competition. He won both of his group matches, beating 15th seed Englishman

Rajiv Ouseph Theratil Rajiv Ouseph (born 30 August 1986) is a former international badminton player from England who has represented both England and Great Britain. A long-time English and British No.1, Ouseph's most significant international tournament achi ...

and Swedish player

in the process, thus winning a place in the round of 16. He lost his round of 16 match versus

Sho Sasaki is a retired Japanese badminton player from the Tonami Transportation team. He competed in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics. He also participated in four Asian Games from 2002 to 2014. Career In 2007, he won the All Japan Ba ...

of Japan. He qualified again to the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, but had to withdraw due to injury after finishing the first match, losing a tough 3-setter against

Adrian Dziolko Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the main ...

of Poland. Cordón qualified again for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. He won both of his group matches, defeating Mexican Lino Munoz and the 8th-seeded

Ng Ka Long Angus Ng Ka Long (born 24 June 1994) is a Hong Kong badminton player. He has a career-high ranking of 6th in the men's singles discipline. He won the 2016 Hong Kong Super Series, the 2020 Thailand Masters and the 2023 German Open. Early l ...

, thus winning a place in the round of 16. He defeated

Mark Caljouw Mark Caljouw (born 25 January 1995) is a Dutch badminton player. He started playing badminton aged eight, at BC Randstad in Rijswijk. Career Caljouw was selected to join the national team in 2008, and made a debut in international senior tour ...

of the Netherlands to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time ever. In the quarter-finals, he defeated Korean

Heo Kwang-hee Heo Kwang-hee (; born 11 August 1995) is a South Korean badminton player who was educated at the Dankook University. He was selected to join the national team in 2012, and joined the Samsung Electro-Mechanics team in 2014. Heo was the bronze med ...

21–13 and 21–18 to become the first Central American to advance to the Olympic badminton semi-finals. He lost the semi-final to eventual gold medalist

Viktor Axelsen Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish badminton player. He is a two-time Badminton at the Summer Olympics, Olympic Champion, two-time BWF World Championships, World Champion, and four-time European Badminton Championships, European Cha ...

of Denmark and the bronze medal match to Indonesian

Anthony Sinisuka Ginting Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (; born 20 October 1996) is an Indonesian badminton player. He first rose to senior prominence when he won the bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games, having won a 2014 Youth Olympic bronze in 2014. At the 2020 Olympics, ...

, both in straight games. Kevin Cordón twice won the continental

Pan Am Badminton Championships The Pan American Badminton Championships is a tournament organized since 1977 by the Badminton Pan America (BPA) to crown the best badminton players in the Americas. The tournament was held every year from 1977 until 1980, then every two years from ...

in the men's singles event in 2009 and 2012 and also once the men's doubles Pan Am badminton event in 2009 with compatriot Rodolfo Ramirez. Already as a junior player in 2004, he won the continental Pan Am Junior Badminton Championships boys' singles title in the U-19 category. On 3 July 2024, he and female

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

Waleska Soto were chosen by the

Guatemalan Olympic Committee The Guatemalan Olympic Committee (, abbreviated as COG) is a non-profit organization serving as the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala and a part of the International Olympic Committee and Pan American Sports Organization, PASO. It was formed ...

to be the flag bearers in the

2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The Olympic Games ceremony#Opening, opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on 26 July 2024 across Paris, beginning at 19:30 Central European Summer Time, CEST (17:30 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC). As mandated by the Olympic ...

. Playing in his fifth Olympics, he broke the Olympic record for a badminton player, along with

Pablo Abián Pablo Abián Vicén (; born 12 June 1985) is a Spanish badminton player. He was the men's singles gold medalists at the 2015 European Games, 2018 and 2022 Mediterranean Games. Olympic Games 2008 (Beijing, China) He competed in badminton at ...

. However, after losing his first group match, he withdrew from the tournament due to injury.

Achievements

Pan American Games

''Men's singles''

Pan Am Championships

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

Central American and Caribbean Games

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (44 titles, 20 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF Future Series The BWF Future Series is a grade 3 and level 3 tournaments part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and International Series (level 2), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

Record against selected opponents

Includes results against CACSO Games finalists, Pan Am Games finalists, Pan Am Championships finalists, Super Series finalists, World Championship semifinalists, Olympic quarter-finalists, and all Olympic opponents.http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/profile/selectheadtohead.aspx?id=B8ECFF4D-C7A9-4778-AE13-900E7F626638 *

Ygor Coelho Ygor Coelho de Oliveira (; born 24 November 1996) is a Brazilian badminton player. He won the Pan Am Junior Badminton Championships six times in the boys' singles and four times in the mixed doubles event with Lohaynny Vicente. Oliveira placed ...

4–1 *

Mike Beres Mike Beres (born May 13, 1973) is a male badminton player from Canada. He won the bronze medal in the men's doubles competition at the 1999 Pan American Games. He was born in Brantford, Ontario. In 2001 and 2007, he won the Boston Ba ...

0–1 * Andrew D'Souza 1–0 *

Jason Ho-Shue Jason Anthony Ho-Shue (born 29 August 1998) is a Canadian badminton player. He won the gold medal in the men's doubles at the 2019 Pan American Games, and at the Pan Am Championships in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. He also won the men's singles t ...

2–2 * Brian Yang 1–5 * Stephan Wojcikiewicz 3–0 *

0–1 *

1–0 *

10–5 * Ilian Perez 0–1 * Jan Fröhlich 1–3 *

Peter Gade Peter Høeg Gade (born 14 December 1976 in Aalborg, Denmark)BWF World Ranking
Bwfbadminton ...

0–1 *

Joachim Persson Joachim Persson (born 23 May 1983) is a former badminton player from Denmark. Career Persson was born in Denmark but his family moved to Germany in his early years. He began to playing badminton in Trittau, Germany together with his parents. ...

1–1 *

0–1 *

1–1 *

Marc Zwiebler Marc Zwiebler (, born 13 March 1984) is a German former professional badminton player. His highest ranking is 10 in the world. He is a seven-time German National Badminton Championships, German national champion in men's singles. He won gold at ...

0–2 *

Pedro Yang Pedro Alejandro Yang Ruiz (born October 9, 1976) is a retired male badminton player from Guatemala. Biography Yang played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, losing in the round of 32 to Jim Ronny Andersen of Norway. He ...

2–0 *

1–0 *

Ajay Jayaram Ajay Jayaram (born 28 September 1987) is an Indian retired badminton player from Chennai. He plays for the Mumbai Rockets in the Premier Badminton League. Jayaram is a champion of the Czech International and Dutch Open tournament. Ajay Jaya ...

0–2 *

Lakshya Sen Lakshya Sen (born 16 August 2001) is an Indian badminton player. He's a former World Junior No. 1. Sen is a bronze medalist at the World Championships, a gold medalist at the Thomas Cup, a silver medalist at the Asian Games and a gold and si ...

0–2 *

Parupalli Kashyap Parupalli Kashyap (born 8 September 1986) is an Indian former badminton player. A former World No. 6, he is a coach at Gopichand Badminton Academy. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2012. He became the first male player from India to reac ...

0–1 *

Taufik Hidayat Taufik Hidayat (born 10 August 1981) is an Indonesian retired badminton player who is the current Deputy Minister for Youth and Sport of Indonesia. He is a former BWF World Championships, World champion, Badminton at the Summer Olympics, Olymp ...

0–1 *

Kento Momota is a former Japanese badminton player. He has won several major badminton tournaments including becoming a two time World Champion, becoming a two time Asian Champion, and winning one All England title. Momota received a Guinness World Reco ...

0–1 *

0–2 *

0–2 * Lino Muñoz 14–1 *

1–1 *

Adrian Dziółko Adrian Dziółko (; born 22 February 1990) is a Polish badminton player. He competed at the Badminton at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Achievements BWF International Challenge/Series (2 titles, 8 r ...

2–1 *

1–0 *

Lee Hyun-il Lee Hyun-il (; born 17 April 1980) is a former badminton player from South Korea. He is a former World and Asian Championships bronze medalist, and was part of South Korean team that won the 2003 Sudirman Cup as well the gold medals at the ...

0–1 *

2–7 *

Niluka Karunaratne Niluka Karunaratne ( Sinhala: නිලූක කරුණාරත්න; Tamil: நிலுக கருணாரத்ன) (born 13 February 1985) is a Sri Lankan badminton player who has competed at the Olympics in 2012, 2016 and 2020. His ...

2–1 *

2–2 *

Boonsak Ponsana Boonsak Ponsana (; ; born 22 February 1982) is a Thai badminton player. His younger sister Salakjit Ponsana is also part of the Thailand badminton team. He got a Bachelor of Laws from Sripatum University. Career Ponsana competed at the Badmin ...

0–1 * Howard Shu 9–0 *

Nguyễn Tiến Minh Nguyễn Tiến Minh (born February 12, 1983) is a Vietnamese badminton player. His best achievement to date was the bronze medal at the 2013 BWF World Championships, World Championship in 2013. Career Introduced to badminton by his father ...

1–0

References

External links

* * * *
Kevin Cordon
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...