Dawn Fraser is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer, eight-time olympic medallist, a 15-year world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle, and former politician. Controversial, yet the winner of countless honours, she has enjoyed national prominence and sparked national pride in Australia. She is one of only four swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times – in her case the women's 100-metre freestyle.
Taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics were held in the Sports Pavilion at the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex in Athens, Greece where 124 competitors competed in eight events, four each for men and women.
Steven López is an American taekwondo competitor, a 2000 and 2004 Olympic gold medalist and a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist and 4th Dan in taekwondo. In 2001, he won the Lightweight Taekwondo World Championship, and in 2003 he won the Welterweight Taekwondo World Championship which he has since won in 2005, 2007 and 2009 making him the first Taekwondo fighter to win 5 World Championships. With 2 Olympic titles, 5 titles in taekwondo world championships and 1 title in taekwondo world cup he is the most titled champion after Hadi Saei who earns 9 world class titles.
Taekwondo made its first appearance at the Olympics as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. The opening ceremony featured a mass demonstration of taekwondo, with hundreds of adults and children performing moves in unison. Taekwondo was again a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Taekwondo became a full medal sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and has been a sport in the Olympic games since then.
The event of Taekwondo competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing. It was held between August 20th and August 23rd at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium. The event consisted of various athletes, there were 128 Taekwondo practitioners, consisting of 64 men and 64 women. These athletes competed in 8 events, where for the first time ever, two bronze medals were awarded per event.
The men's +80 kg competition in taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens took place on August 29 at the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex.
Ángel Valodia Matos Fuentes is a former Cuban taekwondo athlete. He received a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and added another at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Lauren Chantel Burns is an Australian taekwondo practitioner and Olympic champion. She won Australia's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, competing in the women's under 49 kg class. Burns holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in taekwondo. Following her competitive taekwondo career, she has been involved in a range of activities, including motivational speaking and community work.
Daniel Trenton is an Australian lawyer and taekwondo coach who represented his country in the sport at international level. He won a silver medal in the heavyweight (+80 kg) division of men's taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Trenton was Head Coach of Australia's Olympic taekwondo team in 2008.
The men's +80 kg competition in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney took place on 30 September at the State Sports Centre.
Pascal Gentil is a French taekwondo practitioner. A three-time winner of the European Championships, four-time World Cup Champion and Olympic bronze medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Pascal Gentil is the most decorated taekwondo practitioner in French taekwondo history. The S Class International Olympic Referee Dr. Mohamed Riad Ibrahim was the Referee in the Final Match of Pascal Gentil in the 2004 Summer Olympic in Athens, and in this Match Pascal Gentil Won the bronze medal.
Australia was the host nation for the 2000 Summer Paralympics which was held in Sydney. Australia competed in the games between 18 and 29 October. The team consisted of 285 athletes in 18 sports with 148 officials. It was the country's largest ever Paralympic delegation to a Games. Australia has participated at every Summer Paralympic Games since its inception. Australia finished at the top of the medal tally with 63 gold, 39 silver and 47 bronze medals to total 149 medals for the games. This was the first time and the only time to date that Australia has finished on top of either an Olympic or Paralympic medal tally.
The men's marathon event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 1 October 2000 in Sydney, Australia. One hundred athletes from 65 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia, the nation's first victory in the event since winning three in a row from 1960 to 1968. Ethiopia's fourth gold medal in the men's marathon moved it out of a tie with France and the United States into sole possession of the most men's marathon gold medals. Ethiopia also became the first nation to have two medalists in the men's marathon in the same Games since South Africa did it in 1912, as Tesfaye Tola took bronze. Kenya won its third men's marathon medal in four Games with Erick Wainaina's silver. This made Wainaina the sixth man to earn two medals in the event, after his bronze in 1996.
Chika Yagazie Chukwumerije is a male taekwondo practitioner from Nigeria. The son of Nigerian politician Uche Chukwumerije, Chika first drew attention in 2003 during the qualifiers for the 2003 All-Africa Games, where he eventually won a bronze medal in the Heavyweight Male category. He qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but lost his first bout to Pascal Gentil, the eventual bronze medal winner. Nevertheless, after a period of intensive training that was funded by his father, he became one of Nigeria's best chances for a medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He won a gold medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games in the +80 kg class and qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games soon after. Although he lost to eventual silver-medal winner Alexandros Nikolaidis in the semifinals of the +80kg event, he was entered into the repechage round of the tournament. Here, after defeating Akmal Irgashev of Uzbekistan he claimed a bronze medal in the event, Nigeria's third medal of the tournament. Four years later he competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, but did not make it past his first bout.
Taekwondo competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London was held from 8 August to 11 August at the ExCeL London. Competition was held in eight weight categories; four for men, and four for women.
Hadi Saei is an Iranian councilor and former taekwondo athlete who became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history and the most titled champion in this sport by winning 9 world class titles . Earlier in his career and in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Saei had won the Bronze medal. He was elected as member of City Council of Tehran in 2006 local elections and was reelected in 2013 but lost the 2017 election. He is one of the three most medal winners olympians in the sport of Taekwondo.
Rashad Ahmadov is an Azerbaijani taekwondo practitioner. He is a four-time medalist at the European Taekwondo Championships, and a two-time bronze medalist for the welterweight division at the World Taekwondo Championships.
Carlo Massimino is an Australian taekwondo practitioner, who competed in the men's featherweight category. He captured a bronze medal in the 67-kg division at the 2002 Asian Taekwondo Championships in Amman, Jordan, and represented his nation Australia in two editions of the Olympic Games. Before his sporting career ended in late 2004, Massimino trained full-time for Hall's Taekwondo Academy in Brisbane, under head coach and master Martin Hall.
Hayder Shkara is a former professional Taekwondo athlete.
