Caden Cunningham claims silver medal for Team GB after suffering defeat to Iran's Arian Salimi in final
Updated 11/08/2024 at 00:33 GMT+1
Caden Cunningham won another silver medal for Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He enjoyed a fine run in the competition, beating world champion Sallah Cheick Cisse, before he was defeated by Iran’s Arian Salimi in the men's +80kg gold medal match on Saturday night. The 21-year-old won the first round, before Salimi took control in the second and ultimately had too much in the last.
Watch as GB's Cunningham claims superb silver in taekwondo final
Video credit: TNT Sports
Team GB’s Caden Cunningham had to settle for silver after losing the gold medal match in the men's +80kg taekwondo to Iranian Arian Salimi.
Having got off to a brilliant start in the match, winning the first round 6-3, he saw Salimi fight back strongly in the last two rounds, winning the second 9-1 and the third 6-3.
Cunningham performed brilliantly throughout the tournament, beating bronze medalist and current world champion Sallah Cheick Cisse 2-1 in the semi-finals.
The 21-year-old has had an incredible year, winning the gold medal at the +87kg European Championships in May.
Team GB were able to carry on their impressive Olympic taekwondo record, winning a medal at every Games since Athens 2004.
Cunningham was in good spirits despite the loss.
“I am proud because my coach and family are proud, gutted but proud," he told Eurosport. "I have done a good job today, took out some big people and that fighter was amazing, he was better than me. That’s on me and we'll work to make it better so next time there’s none of this silver going on."
The match completely changed in the second round, as the Iranian scored two kicks to the head, one to the body and three Gam-jeom shots.
Salimi's gold is Iran's third of the games, with Mohammad Hadi Saravi and Saeid Esmaeili winning gold in the wrestling.
“Finally, I have it, finally. I am living my dream. Thank you to my coach, my family and everyone who has helped me to earn this. Thank you to God," Salimi told Eurosport.
Rebecca McGowan narrowly misses out on bronze
It was a frustrating night for Team GB's other taekwondo star, with Rebecca McGowan losing in the women's +67kg bronze medal match to Turkey's Nafia Kus Aydin.
McGowan had performed brilliantly, winning her repechage event 2-0 against Feghe Katherine Astan Bathily to reach the bronze medal match.
The 24-year-old had dropped into the repechage side of the draw after losing to Svetlana Osipova in the quarter-final by two rounds.
McGowan won the first round, but lost out narrowly in the final two rounds to miss out on the medal.
The outcome of the last round could have gone her way, with McGowan seemingly hitting her opponent with a kick to the head which would have given her the points she needed. Upon review, the kick was judged to have hit the arm of Aydin.
McGowan was emotional at the end of the match, saying: “I felt in control, I just made a couple of mistakes and taekwondo is a fine game where every mistake counts and I think I was unlucky with a couple of things. I need to go back, have a look and see where things went wrong. It’s a bit raw right now. I am just devastated.
“Massive thank you to everyone who’s come and been supporting in the crowd and everyone who’s supported from home. I could not have done the past year without any of you, I could not have done the past 19 years without any of you, so yeah thank you. I am sorry.”
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2024/08/10/image-7d939215-5686-47b5-931d-f7ecb03fc77e.jpeg)
Rebecca McGowan
Image credit: Getty Images
discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer
Related Topics
Advertisement
Advertisement