China’s gold medal outshone by Korea’s odds defying day

Imagine a sport where the crowd laughs at you if you do as much as raise your hand a centimetre too high. That is poomsae, a variant of Taekwondo in which, instead of fights, the athletes perform a series of choreographed moves.

“Everything is judged. It is really important to have a lot of experience with your partner,” said American Alex Lee, who performed today at the Chengdu FISU Games both at men’s team and mixed pairs poomsae. He and his partner, Adalis Munoz, have been training together for a year and a half – yet only managed to get 4th place in pairs.

After barely missing out on gold medals in both women’s and men’s team events, the host Chinese had a high-flying performance in pairs with a great score of 7.240, the highest of the day.

The golden duo made up of Liang Jie and Liu Siyue, have been practicing together for a year, but have known each other since 2015. “We are very proud to have had our best performance ever in front of our people,” Liu said.

China’s Men and Women’s Teams also felt the same about their respective showings, walking into the mixed zone like they already had the gold medal in the bag. South Korea, however, had different plans.

Led by Jung Haeun, the Koreans took first place in women’s team poomsae with a solid 6.930, while Lee Jaewon and his boys took the gold in men’s team poomsae, silencing a packed Wangjiang Campus Gymnasium with a resounding 7.160.

The guys and the girls had one thing in common, they broke the pattern. “We have been together for a month,” said Lee and Jung.

But don’t be mistaken, success does not come by accident. Even though they were by far the most inexperienced as a team, the Koreans adopted a strict training routine, practicing every single day for the past month.

Individually, however, their men’s team is very seasoned. Lee Jaewon won the MVP Award at the 2018 World Poomsae Championships and Shin Wooseop is the 11th highest ranked athlete in the World Taekwondo Federation’s Ranking.

Korea’s women’s team, on the other hand, has no ranked athletes and this was the first title of their careers. The secret? “Teamwork,” said Yun Jihye.

Mental fortitude is another essential aspect of poomsae. Every move counts, every mistake takes points away, and the fans are ruthless. “I made a few mistakes and I heard the ‘whoa’ from the crowd,” said A. Lee. Spaniard Tomas Fernandez agrees. “Being mentally well so you never fail is the hardest part of this sport,” he said.

So much so that almost every fighter claimed to be nervous before their performances, even the champions.

There is no recipe to success in poomsae, but one thing is for certain: South Korea beat the odds and got two gold medals in the process.

Written by Pedro Consoli, FISU Young Reporter