PARIS — Seo Geon-woo finished fourth in the men's -80-kilogram taekwondo event at the Paris Olympics on Friday, narrowly missing out on what would have been South Korea's third consecutive medal in the sport this Olympics.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Seo was defeated by Denmark's Edi Hrnic in one of the bronze medal matches held at the Grand Palais, with scores of 15-2 and 11-8 in a best-of-three rounds format. Seo's journey to the bronze match followed a loss earlier in the day to Iran's Mehran Barkhordari in the semifinals, where he fell 2-1 with round scores of 2-4, 13-9, and 12-8.
During the bronze match, Seo quickly found himself trailing, conceding six points in the first 22 seconds of each round. Despite a brief comeback in the second round, a critical penalty and a late body kick by Hrnic sealed the match in favor of the Danish athlete. Reflecting on his performance, an emotional Seo expressed regret over his preparation, vowing to come back stronger if given another Olympic opportunity.
Seo's participation was notable as he was the first South Korean to compete in the -80-kilogram category since taekwondo became an official Olympic sport in 2000. Before Seo's competition, South Korea had achieved notable success in taekwondo at these Games, with Park Tae-joon and Kim Yu-jin winning gold medals in their respective categories.