|
| Event type

Welterweight (≤67 kilograms), Women

Date19 – 20 August 2016
StatusOlympic
LocationArena Carioca 3, Parque Olímpico da Barra, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro
Participants16 from 16 countries
FormatSingle-elimination tournament. All fighters losing to the finalists in each pool advance to repêchage tournament for the bronze medal.

With the 2008 and 2012 champion, South Korea’s Hwang Gyeong-Seon, not taking part in Rio, the battle for gold favored Haby Niaré of France, the 2013 world champion and top seed in Rio. Known as “Abigator” by her team-mates, she had a great 2015 season capped with a Grand Series Final win. She was known for her famous and rare ‘scorpion kick’ to the head from close range.

The second seed, Elin Johansson of Sweden, reached the quarter-final in London in 2012 and was a bronze medallist at the 2015 European Games and was renowned for her powerful head attacks. Also in contention was the highly experienced 2015 world champion Chuang Chia-Chia of Chinese Taipei, who was the third seed. Nur Tatar of Turkey was another experienced fighter and was seeded fourth. She won the silver medal in 2012 and was also a silver medallist in the 2015 World and 2016 European Championships. Another one to watch was the reigning 73kg World Champion Oh Hye-Ri of South Korea, who lost weight in order compete in the welterweight division and consequently was one of the stronger fighters in this division, which also featured 17-year- old Nigora Tursunkulova of Uzbekistan. the youngest competitor in the entire taekwondo competition.

Nairé scraped through her opening bout 5-4 against Aniya Louissant of Haiti but Elin Johansson lost on superiority to the youngster Tursunkulova (after drawing 2-2), and Chuang Chia-chia and Oh Hye-ri progressed to the quarter-finals with relative ease. It was another close 5-4 win for Niaré in the quarters, this time against Ruth Gbagbi of the Ivory Coast, as she set up a semi-final meeting with Turkey’s Tatar. This time the Niaré was taken to sudden-death before winning through to the final. The other semi-final saw Hye-ri, who beat Chia-Chia 21-9 in the quarters, pitched against Fəridə Əzizova of Azerbaijan, who ended the dreams of the 17-year-old Tursunkulova. It was the South Korean Oh Hye-ri who went on to meet Niaré in the final after a narrow 6-5 victory.

The number one seed Niaré had to endure yet another close encounter, but this time she lost and had to settle for the silver medal after a 12-13 defeat by the sixth seeded Korean. Niaré led 1-0 after the first round with a later kick. The French woman scored early in the second but two quick kicking attacks and knocking Niaré to the ground saw Hye-ri built 10-4 lead in round two. Nairé attacked in the final round but, despite winning it 8-3, she lost the contest by one point.

The bronze medals went to Nur Tatur and the number nine seed Ruth Gbagbi, who made history as the first Ivory Coast athlete to win a Taekwondo medal, as she became only the second athlete from her country to win an Olympic medal after track athlete Gabriel Tiacoh won the 400 metres silver medal in 1984. Remarkably, after a 32-year wait for their second Olympic medal, Ivory Coast won their third medal just over an hour later when Cheick Sallah Cissé in the men’s taekwondo welterweight division gave his country not only its third medal but its first ever Olympic gold.

PosCompetitorNOC
1Oh Hye-RiKORGold
2Haby NiaréFRASilver
=3Nur TatarTURBronze
=3Ruth GbagbiCIVBronze
=5Chuang Chia-ChiaTPE
=5Fəridə ƏzizovaAZE
=7Aniya LouissaintHAI
=7Melissa PagnottaCAN
=9Rabia GülecGER
=9Nigora TursunkulovaUZB
=11Anastasiya BaryshnikovaRUS
=11Zhansel DenizKAZ
=11Elin JohanssonSWE
=11Seham El-SawalhyEGY
=11Carmen MartonAUS
=11Paige McPhersonUSA

Round One

Date19 August 2016 — 9:00
FormatWinner of each match advanced to the quarter-finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorNOCResultCompetitorNOC
Match #119 Aug 9:00Nur TatarTURFinal scoreCarmen MartonAUS
Match #219 Aug 9:30Rabia GülecGERFinal scoreAnastasiya BaryshnikovaRUS
Match #319 Aug 10:00Ruth GbagbiCIVFinal scoreSeham El-SawalhyEGY
Match #419 Aug 10:30Haby NiaréFRAFinal scoreAniya LouissaintHAI
Match #519 Aug 11:00Nigora TursunkulovaUZBSuperiorityElin JohanssonSWE
Match #619 Aug 11:30Fəridə ƏzizovaAZEFinal scorePaige McPhersonUSA
Match #719 Aug 12:00Oh Hye-RiKORFinal scoreMelissa PagnottaCAN
Match #819 Aug 12:30Chuang Chia-ChiaTPEPoints gapZhansel DenizKAZ

Quarter-Finals

Date19 August 2016 — 15:00
FormatWinner of each match advanced to the semi-finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorNOCResultCompetitorNOC
Match #119 Aug 15:00Nur TatarTURFinal scoreRabia GülecGER
Match #219 Aug 15:30Haby NiaréFRAFinal scoreRuth GbagbiCIV
Match #319 Aug 16:00Fəridə ƏzizovaAZEFinal scoreNigora TursunkulovaUZB
Match #419 Aug 16:30Oh Hye-RiKORPoints gapChuang Chia-ChiaTPE

Semi-Finals

Date19 August 2016 — 17:00
FormatWinner of each match advanced to the final round.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorNOCResultCompetitorNOC
Match #119 Aug 17:00Haby NiaréFRASudden deathNur TatarTUR
Match #219 Aug 17:30Oh Hye-RiKORFinal scoreFəridə ƏzizovaAZE

Repêchage Round One

Date20 August 2016 — 20:00
FormatWinner of each match advanced to the bronze medal match.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorNOCResultCompetitorNOC
Match #120 Aug 20:00Ruth GbagbiCIVFinal scoreAniya LouissaintHAI
Match #220 Aug 20:30Chuang Chia-ChiaTPEFinal scoreMelissa PagnottaCAN

Final Round

Date20 August 2016 — 22:00
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorNOCResultCompetitorNOC
Match 1/220 Aug 22:00Oh Hye-RiKORFinal scoreHaby NiaréFRA
Match 3/520 Aug 21:00Nur TatarTURFinal scoreChuang Chia-ChiaTPE
Match 3/520 Aug 21:30Ruth GbagbiCIVFinal scoreFəridə ƏzizovaAZE