Skylar Park has won Canada’s first Olympic medal in taekwondo in 16 years.
The 25-year-old from Winnipeg fought her way through the repechage to win bronze in the women’s 57kg event at Paris 2024.
Park’s day had begun with a 2-0 (6-2, 4-3) win over Czechia’s Dominika Hronova in the Round of 16. But the fourth seed was then upset in the quarterfinals by South Korea’s Kim Yujin 2-0 (7-6, 9-5). When Kim won her semifinal to get into the gold medal bout, that put Park into a repechage.
In a tight contest with fifth seed Hatice Kubra Ilgun of Turkey, Park came out on top 2-0 (6-4, 3-2), advancing her into a bronze medal bout against Laeticis Aoun of Lebanon.
Though neither athlete scored a point in the opening two-minute round, Park was awarded the round by superiority. In the second round, after a video review, Park was rewarded for a kick to the head, putting her up 3-0. She got another point when Aoun was penalized. A penalty to Park made it 4-2. And then with one second left on the clock, Aoun asked for a review of what she thought was a kick to Park’s head, but her appeal was rejected, setting the Canadian up for the win.
This is Canada’s third Olympic medal in taekwondo since the sport made its debut at Sydney 2000. At those Games, Dominique Bosshart won bronze in the women’s +67kg event. Eight years later at Beijing 2008, Karine Sergerie took silver in the women’s 67kg event.
