South Korean taekwondo practitioner Lee Da-bin speaks with Yonhap News Agency after arriving at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on July 25, 2024, for the Paris Olympics. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
PARIS, Jul. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean taekwondo practitioner Lee Da-bin has won everything that an athlete in her martial art can win, except for one thing: an Olympic gold medal.
With a world championship, an Asian championship, two Asian Games gold medals and nearly a handful of Grand Prix titles, Lee is one of the most accomplished taekwondo athletes at age 27. Set to compete in the women’s +67 kilograms at the Paris Olympics next month, Lee will have a chance to make her resume complete.
“I think it’s going to be fun. I am excited,” Lee told Yonhap News Agency after landing at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on Thursday night. “I felt incredible after my final training session in Korea. I want to maintain the same level of intensity here for about a week and then check into the Olympic village.”
The taekwondo competition starts Aug. 7, and Lee’s event, the heaviest weight division for women, will be Aug. 10, the day before the closing ceremony of the Olympics.
Lee burst onto the taekwondo scene by winning the 2014 Asian Games gold medal in the 62kg class. At the next Asian Games four year later, Lee moved up to +67kg division and won the gold medal there, too.
Titles at the Asian championships in 2016 and the world championships in 2019 followed. But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing since for the oft-injured Lee.
Lee underwent left foot surgery before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and recovered just in time to earn a hard-fought silver medal.
The 2023 season was an especially trying one for Lee, who was knocked out in the round of 16 at the world championships and settled for silver at the Asian Games while battling another left foot injury.
The athlete long known for an easy smile was often reduced to tears last year, but Lee vowed things will be different in Paris.
Lee will likely have to contend with France’s own Althea Laurin, the reigning bronze medalist, 2023 world champion and No. 1 in the Olympic rankings compiled by World Taekwondo (WT).
“I have not faced her much, but I have had success against her,” Lee said. “I am pretty confident.”
Most recently, Lee beat Laurin in the semifinals of the WT Grand Prix Final in December last year. The two had also squared off in Paris in September 2022 for the second leg of the WT Grand Prix series, and Lee defeated the Frenchwoman in the final in front of a partisan French crowd.
“I remember arriving at the same airport two years ago for the Grand Prix series, and there are way more people here now,” Lee said. “I feel like the Olympic Games are really happening here.”
(Yonhap)
