Taekwondo Olympians - Steven Lopez

In the first Taekwondo olympic game, Korea the origin where the art was first developed won 3 gold medals showing that it is indeed the founder of the sport. One category which I remembered in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the men's welterweight category had been so close for korea to get another Gold Medal but it was in the end won by America's Steven Lopez.

Steven Lopez can be said to be USA Taekwondo's pride, winning many major games for its country including three times in the World Championships. In his 2000 olympic final, he was challenged against a Korean player. The Korean player was fast with his kicks but Lopez has an advantage of being much taller which made it more difficult for the Korean to execute his kicks. The Korean player did many double turning and was fouled twice for kicking below belt which caused him to have one point deducted. The korean did managed to give a slamming kick on Lopez which was quite impressive which demostrated his flexibility and speed. Lopez returned one to his face later on with a back thrust. This part was rather amusing because after the korean got that kick, unusually he shouted even more aggressively. As if he was pitting against the shout from Lopez. I was wondering, people who got a kick on their face will usually be silent, perhaps his way of expressing pain was to shout out even louder. At the end of the game, Lopez won by 1-0. He knelt down to the ground and did a crucifix sign showing his thanks and gratefulness to God.

In the next Olympic games Athens 2004, Lopez showed more confidence in his matches. His style remained the same which was rather conservative often waiting for the opportunity to counter. In his semi-final which I saw, a little boring due to not much of actions because Lopez was guarding his score instead of intending to get more. His opponent has decided to stop attacking too after being beautifully scored twice by Lopez. The first point scored came when his Lopez's opponent did a back thrust and Lopez caught that moment nicely moved towards his back and counter with a forceful turning kick on his opponent's front. You could really see his opponent staggered and from his expression, the kick seemed rather forceful. In the final, Lopez performed well and clinched his 2nd Olympic Gold Medal. A remarkable achievement indeed! That makes him a two-time Olympic Taekwondo Gold Medalist, the first in the male category.