Son Tae-jin
Son Tae-jin (Hangul: 손태진, Hanja: 孫泰珍; Korean pronunciation: [son.tʰɛ̝.dʑin]; born May 5, 1988 in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea) is a South Korean Taekwondo practitioner.
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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Born | South Korea | 5 May 1988||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Taekwondo practitioner | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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In May 2007, Son first competed in the World Taekwondo Championships in Beijing, China at the age of 19, but lost to Algimiro Mejias of Venezuela in the bantamweight (-62 kg) first round.
In September 2007, he finished in 1st place in the -68 kg category at the World Qualification Tournament in Manchester, England by defeating 2005 world featherweight (-67 kg) champion Mark López of United States in the quarterfinals and 2007 world featherweight (-67 kg) champion Gessler Viera Abreu of Cuba in the final.
In May 2008, Son eventually qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, defeating 2006 Asian Game winner Kim Ju-Young and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Song Myeong-Seob at the 2008 Korean Olympic Taekwondo Trials.
On August 21, 2008, Son won the gold medal in the -68 kg category at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, defeating Mark López of the United States in the final.
On July 22, 2009, Son was knocked out by Park Hyung-Jin in Round 2 of the featherweight (-68 kg) final match at the 2009 President's Cup in Ulsan, South Korea via a back spinning hook kick. He collapsed to the mat and was disoriented after the stand-up. Due to the defeat, Son didn't qualify as a member of the 2010 South Korean national taekwondo team.
In 2010, Son won the gold medal in the World Combat Games by defeating Reza Naderian in the final.