Cha Dong-min

Cha Dong-min
Personal information
Nationality:	South Korea
Birthday:	August 24, 1986
Place of birth:	Seoul
Size:	187 cm

Cha Dong-min ( Korean 차동민 ; * August 24, 1986 in Seoul ) is a South Korean Taekwondoin . He became the 2008 Olympic heavyweight champion.

His first international title fights Cha denied at the Junior Asian Championships 2003 in Ho Chi Minh City , where he won the title in the class over 78 kilograms. In 2007 he prevailed surprisingly against the national competition and qualified in the heavyweight over 80 kilograms in Manchester for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing . In the Olympic tournament he prevailed after an opening victory in the quarterfinals against Akmal Ergashev and defeated Ángel Matos in the semifinals . In the final against Alexandros Nikolaidis it was tied until shortly before the end of the fight, but Cha hit another body hit and won the gold medal. A South Korean athlete won Olympic gold in the heavyweight division at the third event. In addition, Cha secured the historic success of the South Korean Taekwondoin with his victory, all four starters were able to win their tournament and thus gold. The success was only overshadowed by the scandal in the previous battle for bronze, where the Cuban Matos attacked the referee after being disqualified.

At his first World Cup in 2011 in Gyeongju , Cha was able to win silver in the class up to 87 kilograms, but was only defeated in the final by Youssef Karami . At the 2011 international Olympic qualification competition in Baku , he secured participation in his second Olympic Games in London in 2012 .

Web links

• Cha Dong-min in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Cha Dong-min on the TaekwondoData.com website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Matos rage overshadows Cha gold. Retrieved June 20, 2012 (English). 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Cha is the family name here, Dong-min is the first name.