Taekwando, judo, weightlifting
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In these sports, underdog nations triumph at the Olympics
Ulugbek Raschitow celebrates his gold medal in Taekwondo.
Photo: AP / Themba Hadebe
Düsseldorf Big sports nations like the USA and China also dominate the Olympics in Tokyo. But there are some sports in which supposed underdogs are traditionally successful – this year too.
The 19-year-old Ulugbek Raschitow from Uzbekistan won the gold medal in Taekwondo in the weight class up to 68 kilograms on the first Olympic weekend in Tokyo. In doing so, he continued a tradition, as Uzbekistan won almost all of its Olympic medals in martial arts. So far, the athletes at the Olympic Games have been particularly successful in boxing, wrestling and judo, now they have triumphed in Taekwondo.
Taekwondo has already proven to be a sport in the past, in which nations are also successful, which send relatively small Olympic bids to the games and are only outsiders in many other disciplines. The Ivory Coast won the first Olympic gold medal in the country’s history in Taekwondo in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and Jordan also succeeded in another weight class in Rio. Taiwan, which has to start as Chinese Taipei at the Olympics, also won its first two gold medals in Korean martial arts in 2004.
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Photo: dpa / —
One reason why smaller sports nations are also successful in Taekwondo: You can theoretically train it anywhere, even under difficult conditions. It is cheaper than other sports because hardly any special equipment is required. In some countries, certain sports are also traditionally popular. In Iran, for example, there are so-called Zurchanehs, which translates as “weight room”. The roots of the tradition go back several centuries. In the Zurchanehs, sport is linked to religious rituals. With this in mind, wrestling and weightlifting became particularly popular in Iran.
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Photo: dpa / Hendrik Schmidt
In countries with few successes at the Olympics, individual victories can also trigger a veritable euphoria in a sport: In Jordan, 50,000 Taekwondo suits were sold in 2016 after Ahmad Abughaush’s first Olympic victory in the country. That said the general secretary of the Jordanian Olympic Committee according to the newspaper The New York Times.
Taiwan won two medals in London in 2012 and three in Rio in 2016. In 2016 it was gold and bronze in weightlifting and also bronze in archery. These two sports have also delivered some medals for smaller sports nations. Iran won a total of eight medals in 2016, including seven in wrestling and weightlifting and one in taekwondo. Thailand collected four medals in 2012 and six in 2016, all in weightlifting, taekwondo or boxing. Afghanistan was able to win two medals in the history of the Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016 it was bronze in Taekwondo.
Indonesia won three medals each in the last two Olympic Games. In badminton, the mixed doubles won the gold medal in Rio in 2016. The other successes came from weightlifting. Most of the athletes in the Olympic squad compete in these two sports. Otherwise Indonesia only takes part in other sports with a few athletes.
Kosovo was allowed to compete as a nation at the Olympics for the first time in 2016 and immediately won judo gold among women. Fiji won the first Olympic medal in the country’s history in 2016: gold in rugby 7.
Many of the countries continue their successes in Tokyo: Fiji defended the rugby title. Distria Krasniqi and Nora Gjakova won the next judo gold medals for Kosovo. Taiwan won gold and bronze in weightlifting, silver in judo and archery, and bronze in taekwondo and table tennis. Thailand won gold in Taekwondo, Iran in shooting. Indonesia won silver and two bronze medals in weightlifting. In addition, the country is represented in badminton competitions – unlike in other sports, as a co-favorite.
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