Three years ago in Tokyo, Lee Da-bin grabbed her silver medal in taekwondo by losing her last match of the competition. On Saturday in Paris, though, Lee claimed her bronze medal by winning her final match of the women's +67-kilogram taekwondo event. That's an important distinction for the 27-year-old. "I came here with the goal of winning the gold medal. Although I didn't accomplish that, it's still an honor to win this bronze medal. The fact that it's my second straight medal doubles that pleasure," Lee said with a smile after beating Lorena Brandl of Germany for the bronze at Grand Palais in Paris. "My Olympics in Tokyo ended with a loss, but I wrapped up my competition with a win here. So I am pretty happy with that. I got to celebrate the win and fly our national flag." Lee said she felt great physically all day but admitted she wasn't quite prepared for her semifinal opponent, Svetlana Osipova of Uzbekistan. Still, Lee became just the fourth South Korean taekwondo practitioner with multiple Olympi c medals. "It's difficult just to compete at two Olympic Games. It means a lot to me that I've won two medals," she said. "Honestly, though, I really wanted to win the gold medal here. So I am not that pleased with that bit of the record." Before Lee, two first-time Olympians for South Korea, Park Tae-joon in the men's -58kg and Kim Yu-jin in the women's -57kg, each won a gold medal. Seo Geon-woo in the men's -80kg lost in the bronze medal match. Lee said she was inspired by the youngsters' performances. "If they could do so well in their first Olympics, I felt I could do better because this was my second Olympics," Lee said. But she then added this will be her last Olympics. "I get hurt all the time. I don't think my body will hold up until the next Olympics," she said. "I've won everything there is to win except an Olympic gold medal. I am disappointed that I didn't get that final piece, but it's been an honor just to be part of that journey." She said she will gladly move out of the way for younger athletes, knowing that taekwondo is in good hands. "We will continue to see talented young athletes come up in our sport," she said. "Our national team trials are fair, and they do a good job of identifying new athletes." Source: Yonhap News Agency
