Park Tae-joon captured the gold in the men’s 58-kilogram event in taekwondo on Wednesday at the Paris Olympics.

Park defeated Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan in the final at Grand Palais in Paris after Magomedov withdrew following several breaks to the game due to an apparent injury to his left leg.

Park has become the first South Korean to win an Olympic gold in the lightest division in men’s taekwondo.

He is also the first South Korean man to win a taekwondo gold medal since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

Park's win helps bring South Korea back to the forefront of the sport, in which it failed to win any medal at the previous Tokyo Games in 2021.

Park’s medal is South Korea’s 12th gold in Paris, one shy of its Summer Olympic record.