| Park Tae-joon | |
| Nationality: | South Korea |
| Birth Date: | 6 June 2004 |
| Birth Place: | Ulsan, South Korea |
| Height: | 180cm |
| Sport: | Taekwondo |
| Event: | 54 kg, 58 kg |
| Universityteam: | Kyung Hee University |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
| Updated: | 2 April 2024 |
Park Tae-joon (; born June 6, 2004) is a South Korean taekwondo athlete.[1] [2] He won a gold medal in his World Taekwondo Championships debut in the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Park participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France, where he won the gold medal in the men's flyweight (-58kg) event.[3] [4]
In the most recent 2024 March World Taekwondo ranking, Park is ranked 1st in the men's -54kg (finweight) World Kyorugi Category, and is ranked 5th in the men's -58kg (flyweight) Olympic Kyorugi Category.[5] [6]
In 2016, Park won a gold medal at the Russian Open Tournament in the Cadet Male flyweight (-37kg) event.[7]
In 2019, Park won a gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in the Juniors Male finweight (-45kg) event.[8]
In 2022, Park won his first gold medal in the Senior category at the 2022 Asian Taekwondo Championships in the Men's finweight (-54kg) event. He also won gold medals that year at the Korea Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Chuncheon, in the men's finweight (-54kg) event, and at the 2022 World Taekwondo Grand Prix held in Manchester, in the men's flyweight (-58kg) event.
In February 2023, Park won a gold medal in the Canada Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Vancouver, in the men's flyweight (-58kg) event.[9] In March, he won a gold medal at the US Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Las Vegas, in the men's flyweight (-58kg) event.[10] He later won a gold medal at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in June, his first senior category World Championships in the men's finweight (-54kg) event.[11] He was given the men's most valuable player award, as a recognition of his outstanding performance during the Championships.[12]
In October 2023, Park participated in Series 3 of the Grand Prix Series and won a bronze medal after losing a fight of 2-1 against Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi. In February 2024, he won a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics dispatch national team selection, thus qualifying to compete in the Olympics in the men's flyweight (-58kg) event.[13] He defeated a previous Olympic medalist, Jang Jun, 2-0 to qualify.[14]
During the 2024 Summer Olympics, Park won a gold medal in the men's 58 kg category. He defeated Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia and Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan. His win has been described as an upswing for South Korea, as it did not win any Taekwondo gold medals while participating in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[15] [16]