The Olympic Games Rio 2016 is about to celebrate the opening ceremony, while the sport of Taekwondo will wait patiently up to August 17 to start.
Forty two (42) from the one hundred twenty eight (128) athletes in total are originated European and they engage the 32.8% of the participants. This isn’t the first time that so many athletes participating in Olympic Games are members of the European Taekwondo Union. In London 2012, the European Continent collected the 50% of the total number of medals of the event and 5 from the 8 gold ones (Jade Jones GBR, Servet Tazegul TUR, Carlo Molfeta ITA, Joel Gonzalez ESP, Milica Mandic SRB). There were 12 years absence of gold medals by European athletes since Sydney 2000 (first time Taekwondo in the official Olympic program) were Michalis Mouroutsos from Greece holds the Gold title in the first male weight category -58kg making himself a unique record man.
There are 19 European countries competing in Rio 2016 with Moldova and Belarus having their first appearance. There are three (3) Countries from Europe participating in full team: Great Britain, France and Azerbaijan.
From the list below, 8 athletes of each weight category were qualified by the WTF Olympic ranking system, 2 through Continental qualification (except from Oceania which qualifies one athlete per category) and 4 with Wild Cards. This year Tripartite Commission has offered athletes from the Central African Republic, Haiti, Honduras and Nepal invitation places for the taekwondo competition at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
ETU President, Sakis Pragalos, stated: “During every Olympic cycle, we strive to supply our athletes with high-level championships from cadets to seniors and help them gain experience within the field of play. The European Taekwondo has ascended to the top of the world claiming the most of the Olympic medals in London 2012. This is a reflection of all our efforts, an outcome of our collaborations and the triumph upon all those years of work. I appreciate on behalf of Europe our 42 athletes from all the 19 countries participating in Rio 2016 and the dedication they have shown towards the Olympic dream. My dream for Taekwondo, to which I have dedicated all my life, establishes it among the elite of the Olympic sport. It is the dynamic soul-force of the sport that motivates my purposes for Taekwondo and it is the same dynamic that will outgrowth the sport to the international standing it deserves.”
Media Contact ETU
Effie Zikouli
Chairwoman, ETU TV & Media Committee
(+30) 690 96 54 690 e-mail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The full list of 128 qualified athletes by category
W-49kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 WU, JINGYU CHN 1
2 WONGPATTANAKIT, PANIPAK THA 2
3 ZANINOVIC, LUCIJA CRO 3
4 SING, IRIS BRA 6
5 MANJARREZ, ITZEL MEX 4
6 AZIEZ, YASMINA FRA 5
7 KIM, SOHUI KOR 10
8 BOGDANOVIC, TIJANA SRB 13
9 ABAKAROVA, PATIMAT AZE 21
10 DIEZ CANSECO, JULISSA PER 28
11 PIMENTEL RODRIGUEZ, MONICA ARU 48
12 KELEKU LUKUSA, ROSA COD 52
13 KILDAY, ANDREA NZL 74
14 YESBERGENOVA, AINUR KAZ 125
15 ANDRADE, MARIA CPV 129
16 HUANG, HUAI-HSUAN TPE 243
W-57kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 JONES, JADE GBR 1
2 CALVO GOMEZ, EVA ESP 2
3 WAHBA, HEDAYA EGY 3
4 VASCONCELOS DOS SANTOS, JULIA BRA 24
5 GLASNOVIC, NIKITA SWE 4
6 HAMADA, MAYU JPN 5
7 ZANINOVIC, ANA CRO 6
8 CARSTENS, CAROLENA PAN 15
9 ASEMANI, RAHELEH BEL 20
10 ALIZADEH ZENOORIN, KIMIA IRI 21
11 BEN ALI, RAHMA TUN 22
12 MARTON, CAROLINE AUS 23
13 MIKKONEN, SUVI FIN 33
14 PATINO MARIN, DORIS ESMID COL 40
15 HARNSUJIN, PHANNAPA THA 64
16 BAKKAL, NAIMA MAR 73
W-67kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 NIARE, HABY FRA 1
2 JOHANSSON, ELIN SWE 2
3 CHUANG, CHIA-CHIA TPE 3
4 TATAR, NUR TUR 4
5 BARYSHNIKOVA, ANASTASIIA RUS 5
6 OH, HYERI KOR 6
7 MC PHERSON, PAIGE USA 10
8 ELSAWALHY, SEHAM EGY 11
9 GBAGBI, RUTH MARIE CHRISTELLE CIV 13
10 AZIZOVA, FARIDA AZE 14
11 PAGNOTTA, MELISSA CAN 15
12 GULEC, RABIA GER 16
13 MARTON, CARMEN AUS 21
14 DENIZ, CANSEL KAZ 51
15 TURSUNKULOVA, NIGORA UZB 93
16 LOUISSAINT, ANIYA NECOL HAI 120
W+67kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 ESPINOZA, MARIA DEL ROSARIO MEX 1
2 ZHENG, SHUYIN CHN 2
3 WALKDEN, BIANCA GBR 3
4 GALLOWAY, JACKIE USA 4
5 OOGINK, RESHIMIE NED 5
6 MANDIC, MILICA SRB 7
7 EPANGUE, GWLADYS FRA 8
8 RODRIGUEZ PEGUERO, KATHERINE JULISSA DOM 20
9 DISLAM, WIAM MAR 21
10 KONE, MAMINA CIV 26
11 SKAAR, TINA NOR 31
12 SORN, SEAVMEY CAM 33
13 WEEKES, CRYSTAL BIRTHANY PUR 46
14 KASSMAN, SAMANTHA PNG 99
15 RAWAL, NISHA NEP 289
16 ALORA, KIRSTIE ELAINE PHI Unranked
M-58kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 ASHOURZADEH FALLAH, FARZAN IRI 1
2 KIM, TAEHUN KOR 2
3 BRAGANCA, RUI POR 4
4 TEIXEIRA, VENILTON BRA 26
5 NAVARRO VALDEZ, CARLOS RUBEN MEX 5
6 TUNCAT, LEVENT GER 6
7 KETBI, SI MOHAMED BEL 8
8 ZHAO, SHUAI CHN 11
9 TORTOSA CABRERA, JESUS ESP 13
10 SAFWAN, KHALIL AUS 14
11 PIE, LUISITO DOM 20
12 SHRIHA, YOUSEF LBA 45
13 ATIAS, RON ISR 48
14 MUNOZ OVIEDO, OSCAR LUIS COL 56
15 HANPRAB, TAWIN THA 64
16 HAJJAMI, OMAR MAR 80
M-68kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 ACHAB, JAOUAD BEL 1
2 LEE, DAE-HOON KOR 2
3 GUTIERREZ, SAUL MEX 3
4 DENISENKO, ALEXEY RUS 4
5 TAZEGUL, SERVET TUR 5
6 GONZALEZ BONILLA, JOEL ESP 6
7 AHMED, GHOFRAN EGY 16
8 ROBAK, KAROL POL 17
9 DIEYE, BALLA SEN 22
10 ABUGHAUSH, AHMAD JOR 40
11 GRGIC, FILIP CRO 43
12 MORALES, IGNACIO CHI 61
13 CONTRERAS, EDGAR VEN 92
14 PUREVJAV, TEMUUJIN MGL 112
15 BOUI, DAVID SYLVERE PATRICK CAF 115
16 KASSMAN, MAXEMILLION PNG Unranked
M-80kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 KHODABAKHSHI, MAHDI IRI 1
2 COOK, AARON MDA 2
3 CISSE, CHEICK SALLAH JUNIOR CIV 3
4 GAUN, ALBERT RUS 4
5 MUHAMMAD, LUTALO GBR 5
6 GUELEC, TAHIR GER 9
7 RAFALOVICH, NIKITA UZB 10
8 COULIBALY, ISMAEL MLI 14
9 BEIGI HARCHGANI, MILAD AZE 15
10 OUESLATI, OUSSAMA TUN 17
11 HERNANDEZ ENCARNACION, MOISES DANIEL DOM 19
12 SHKARA, HAYDER AUS 20
13 LOPEZ, STEVEN USA 21
14 PAZINSKI, PIOTR POL 23
15 LIU, WEI-TING TPE 32
16 FERRERA, MIGUEL HON 50
M+80kg WTF Olympic Ranking
1 SHOKIN, DMITRIY UZB 1
2 MARDANI, SAJJAD IRI 3
3 ISAEV, RADIK AZE 4
4 SIQUEIRA, MAICON BRA 51
5 N DIAYE, M BAR FRA 5
6 CHA, DONGMIN KOR 7
7 OBAME, ANTHONY MYLANN GAB 8
8 TRABELSI, YACINE TUN 9
9 CASTILLO, RAFAEL CUB 11
10 CHO, MAHAMA GBR 12
11 SILLA, ARMAN-MARSHALL BLR 13
12 ISSOUFOU ALFAGA, ABDOULRAZAK NIG 14
13 LAMBDIN, STEPHEN USA 19
14 ZHAPAROV, RUSLAN KAZ 49
15 TAUFATOFUA, PITA NIKOLAS TGA 157
16 QIAO, SEN CHN Unranked