Great Britain’s Caden Cunningham had to settle for Olympic silver after being beaten by Iran’s Arian Salimi in the final of the men’s +80kg category in Paris.
The 21-year-old from Huddersfield won the first round 6-3 but was edged out in the next two as the Iranian pulled away to ensure his nation’s third taekwondo gold.
Cunningham’s medal sealed a gutsy comeback from a serious knee injury in his opening bout at the 2022 World Championships in Mexico, which forced him out of action for a number of months.
That win set Cunningham up with a semi-final showdown against the Ivory Coast’s Cheick Sallah Cisse, the reigning world champion and an all-too-familiar name to the British camp after his last-second win over Lutalo Muhammad in the 2016 Olympic final.
Muhammad watched from the mixed zone as the pair shared the opening two rounds before a thrilling, see-sawing third ended level and led to Cunningham being advanced into his first major final on the basis of unscored registrations – the number of shots that are too light to register.
Great Britain team-mate Rebecca McGowan missed out on a place on the podium when she was beaten by reigning heavyweight world champion Nafia Kus in their bronze medal match.
McGowan had recovered well from a comprehensive earlier defeat to Uzbekistan’s Svetlana Osipova to bound through the repechage but despite taking the first round, she found her Turkish opponent too tough to crack.
She said: “”In taekwondo the little things make the match. It’s gutting. It’s a little heart-breaking right now.
“Losing the review was a turning point but it’s the sport I chose, the life I chose. At some point I have to deal with it and pick myself up.”
