2012 Olympic Taekwondo Thread

[thrutch]

Lutalo Muhammad beaten. Aaron Cook must be fuming. I'm almost glad tbf - be nice to see the British selectors get dragged over the coals.

(For those who didn't follow the story - Cook, ranker number one in the world, was overlooked for selection because he chose to continue training under his own coaches, rather than use Team GB's sparkling new facilities.)

[DerAuslander]

Yeah, I thought that was complete fucking bullshit. A similar situation happened to me when I fought at Nationals years ago, but that came down to the team coach having old country beef with my kwanjang. Ah, politics. Cook would have cleaned up for sure. I hope the team selectors get booted. Literally.

Seriously though, this is the first Olympiad since Taekwondo became a medalled sport that there has not been a Lopez walking away with a medal. Evidently, Steven's ankle is so swollen he can't even walk. It's even more bittersweet. Even with a bronze, he would have become the most decorated fighter in Taekwondo.

[thrutch]

Just noticed I typed "ranker" up there ^^. Obviously I meant "ranked". I'd edit it but it gives the post a nice reggae feel.

The TKD has surprised me by how much I've enjoyed it this time round. Managed to see quite a bit of the men's action. Don't know that it's something I'd go see at tournament level, but still, good stuff. Looking forward to the rest of the evening's matches. The Spaniard looked impressive.

[WhiteShark]

Can someone help me understand Jade's first point in her final match?

[DerAuslander]

Can someone help me understand Jade's first point in her final match?

I've watched it several times & dont see it, so I'm chalking it up to camera angle.

[DerAuslander]

The TKD has surprised me by how much I've enjoyed it this time round. Managed to see quite a bit of the men's action. Don't know that it's something I'd go see at tournament level, but still, good stuff. Looking forward to the rest of the evening's matches. The Spaniard looked impressive.

I've definitely enjoyed this year more than others. I think the rule changes, while in some way wussifying things, have also made for more exciting matches. The fighters do tend to be much more aggressive than they have in the past.

Am I wrong, or have I been seeing a lot more side kicks than in years past? I remember being the only guy throwing them before.

[DerAuslander]

Page McPherson!!!!

USA! USA! USA!

[WhiteShark]

I've watched it several times & dont see it, so I'm chalking it up to camera angle.

Oh so there is an actual point? I at first thought it was a stack of penalties for the Chinese player.

[realjanuary]

My brother spotted me an extra ticket he had for the last night, so I'd thought I'd add what I can remember here.

WTF demo team
The choreograped poomse, acrobatic board breaking and multiple attacker theatrics were all what you'd expect. The multiple attacker was as LARP as you'd expect but the breaking showed amazing athleticism.

Woman's +67kg
Bronze medal matches
Baryshnikova vs Lee was one of the most exciting matches of the night. It was tight through out and one of the first where we saw direct attacks landing as opposed to counter attacks. I quite liked the Russian's style
I can't remember much from the Espinoza vs Hernandez fight.

Final
Graffe vs. Mandic was tight on points, but Mandic was a deserved winner from that fight.

Men's +80kg
Bronze medal matches
Despaigne got a walkover against Keita who was injured. Despaigne had come through the repechage, so we had seen him earlier in the night. He easily beat Thomson-Fuataga, but I can't say I enjoyed watching him. He used his height to good advantage, but his negative style of refusing to engage except with the counter-attack didn't make for entertaining viewing to us non-tkd'ers.
Liu vs Tanrikulu was one of the lowest scoring match we saw of the night (3-2). Liu pipped it, but it was another win for a lanky counter-fighter that refuses to attack.

Final
Mofetta vs. Obame
Without doubt the fight of the night, a little bit of olympic history. Molfetta was the firm favorite (bronze in 2011's worlds and europeans, 2000's world champion). Obame was the young upstart, who didn't have much of a record before this year.
Obame got off to an early lead in round 1, opening with a 3 pointer. From then on he was trying to hang on to the lead which Molfetta chased wonderfully. This was the only fight of the night where we saw a someone being chased across the mat with switching roundhouse kicks.
Molfetta had closed the gap to 2 in the last round when Obame scored another 3 pointer, Roy of the Rovers stuff. One more Kyong-go agaist Obame was costly. Molfetta was showing why he was the favorite as he continued to attack to the last end. With only 20 seconds left Molfetta brought it level with a 3 pointer, his first of the night.
We went into our second sudden death of the night. No points, so it went to the judges cards.
I don't know what criteria the judges were using, but the man who had shown a wider range of technique and more aggression won. However the loudest cheers weren't for Molfetta. Obame, winning Gabon's first ever silver got a standing ovation from the crowd.


Reading the Reuter's page of the last fight I found this gem from the Molfetta:
"The first person I'd like to thank is myself. I've put a lot of work into this medal, lots of injuries and many sacrifices," he added. "That's why I have to dedicate this gold medal to myself in the first place. Then to all the people who supported me on the way to gold."

tl;dr went to watch toe-in-face with my brother, had fun with side bets and saw a mix boring and edge-of-your-seat matches, saw Gabon's first olympic medal

[battlefields]

Just thought I'd leave this here as it is rather amusing.