Taekwondo at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 80 kg

Men's 80 kg at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue	Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium
Date	22 August 2008
Competitors	16 from 16 nations
Medalists
Hadi Saei  Iran Mauro Sarmiento  Italy Zhu Guo  China Steven López  United States

The men's 80 kg competition in taekwondo at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing took place on August 22 at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.

Competition format

The main bracket consisted of a single-elimination tournament, culminating in the gold medal match. Two bronze medals were awarded at the taekwondo competitions. A repechage was used to determine the bronze medal winners. Every competitor who lost to one of the two finalists competed in the repechage, another single-elimination competition. Each semifinal loser faced the last remaining repechage competitor from the opposite half of the bracket in a bronze medal match.

Schedule

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 22 August 2008	11:00 16:00 17:30 20:30	Preliminary round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final

Qualifying Athletes

Athlete	Country
Lionel Baguissi	Gabon
Carlos Vásquez	Venezuela
Aaron Cook	Great Britain
Anju Jason	Marshall Islands
Bahri Tanrıkulu	Turkey
Steven López	United States
Mauro Sarmiento	Italy
Sebastien Konan	Ivory Coast
Abdulqader Hikmat Sarhan	Qatar
Rashad Ahmadov	Azerbaijan
Sébastien Michaud	Canada
Ángel Román	Puerto Rico
Miguel Ferrera	Honduras
Zhu Guo	China
Deepak Bista	Nepal
Hadi Saei	Iran

Results

Legend

• PTG — Won by points gap
• SUP — Won by superiority
• OT — Won on over time (Golden Point)

Main bracket

	Preliminary round					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Gold medal match
	1	Lionel Baguissi (GAB)	0
	16	Carlos Vásquez (VEN)	5
						Carlos Vásquez (VEN)		2
						Aaron Cook (GBR)		5
	8	Aaron Cook (GBR)	7
	9	Anju Jason (MHL)	0
											Aaron Cook (GBR)		5
											Mauro Sarmiento (ITA)		6
	5	Bahri Tanrıkulu (TUR)	0
	12	Steven López (USA)	3
						Steven López (USA)		1
						Mauro Sarmiento (ITA)		2
	4	Mauro Sarmiento (ITA)	4
	13	Sebastien Konan (CIV)	1
																Mauro Sarmiento (ITA)		4
																Hadi Saei (IRI)		6
	6	Abdulqader Hikmat Sarhan (QAT)	0
	11	Rashad Ahmadov (AZE)	5
						Rashad Ahmadov (AZE)		0 (SUP)
						Sébastien Michaud (CAN)		0
	3	Sébastien Michaud (CAN)	2
	14	Ángel Román (PUR)	1
											Rashad Ahmadov (AZE)		1
											Hadi Saei (IRI)		4
	7	Miguel Ferrera (HON)	1
	10	Zhu Guo (CHN)	3
						Zhu Guo (CHN)		2
						Hadi Saei (IRI)		3
	2	Deepak Bista (NEP)	0
	15	Hadi Saei (IRI)	7

Repechage

	Round 1				Bronze medal match
	Zhu Guo (CHN)	6			Zhu Guo (CHN)	4
	Deepak Bista (NEP)	2			Aaron Cook (GBR)	1
	Sebastien Konan (CIV)	0			Rashad Ahmadov (AZE)	2
	Steven López (USA)	3			Steven López (USA)	3

Controversy

An incident in the men's 80 kg competition may prove to have a more lasting impact on the sport. American Steven López, the two-time defending gold medalist in that class who had not lost a match since 2002, had one point taken away by the referee in the third period of his quarterfinal match against Italy's Mauro Sarmiento. The referee determined that Lopez had used an illegal "cut kick" (blocked an opponent's blow below the waist). The deduction turned Lopez' 2–1 lead to a 1–1 tie, and Lopez lost in sudden-death overtime. Team USA's team leader, Herb Perez, unsuccessfully protested the decision, asserting that Lopez had raised his left leg in defense and Sarmiento had kicked into the leg in an attempt to draw the deduction.

In the wake of the decision, Perez leveled serious charges against the sport's governing body, the World Taekwondo Federation:

• He claimed that the protest was not properly handled. Typically, decisions on protests must be made within 15 minutes. No response was made for 45 minutes.
• He also stated that the U.S. team received no indication why the protest was deemed "unacceptable". According to Perez, "Unacceptable could mean anything from we didn’t file the papers properly to we didn’t use the right color pencil... Under the WTF competition rules, we should have been notified about the decision, the criteria, the methodology used, what evidence was presented, and what referees were reviewing it. We were not."
• Perez also said that at a June 2008 conference, the heads of the 25 teams that were to compete in Beijing were asked to sign an agreement not to file any protests at the Games.
• After his protest was denied, Perez alleged that WTF officials approached him and asked him not to talk to the press.

Charles Robinson, a writer for Yahoo! Sports in the U.S., called the events surrounding Lopez' match "a chaotic episode that might ultimately prove to be the tipping point to Olympic doom", adding that it had been widely rumored that taekwondo was on the brink of being removed from the Olympic program.