No pity: how taekwondo fighter Larin defeated rivals and became an Olympic champion

At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, taekwondo has become a truly Russian sport.

Surprisingly, in martial arts, historically dominated by Koreans, domestic athletes who have made significant progress won medals every day.

On Saturday, Mikhail Artamonov took bronze, on Sunday the silver was "gnawed out" by miniature Tatyana Minina, who, due to a limited program at the Games, competed in an unusual category for herself.

Finally, on Monday, Maxim Khramtsov “lathered” the first ever gold in the history of the country at the Olympics in his sport.

In the category up to 80 kg, he left no chances to his rivals, despite the recurrence of a hand injury.

After the end of the tournament, the champion was diagnosed with an intra-articular fracture.

The next day, Vladislav Larin had every chance to repeat the success of his teammate in the heaviest category (over 80 kg).

The organizers awarded him the first seed at the Olympic tournament.

The 25-year-old native of Karelia has collected a full set of awards at the world championships since 2015.

In 2019, he finally won the gold of the world championship in Manchester.

And at the pre-Olympic European Championship, the Russian took silver.

In addition, in Japan, he was lucky with the tournament bracket.

The second and third numbers - Korean In Kyo Dong and the reigning world heavyweight champion from Cuba Rafael Alba got into the other half.

Thus, the domestic athlete could meet with them only in a decisive confrontation.

But in the first round, he got, perhaps, the most popular opponent among all the participants in the competition - Pete Taufatofua.

He is known not for his results, but for the bright passages at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

The athlete smeared with oil in the national costume with the flag of his native Tonga was remembered by the fans for a long time.

In 2018, he represented his country at the Pyeongchang Winter Games, where he competed in cross-country skiing.

However, Taufatofua, of course, had no chance to resist Larin.

It doesn't make much sense to describe the course of the meeting.

Vladislav won with a clear advantage - 24: 3.

The only positive moment for Pita was a successful reception in the second round, which earned him three points.

"Oil Taekwondo" was delighted with the level of his opponent.

“I didn't understand how he scored points.

But then I received a very strong sharp blow.

I just couldn't do anything about it.

Tried several different things, but he knew what I would do.

This is why he is the best in the world.

I congratulate him and all of Russia.

I have great respect for this guy, "- quotes the words of Taufatofua" Match TV ".

In the quarterfinals, one could only dream of an equal fight, although Larin met with the medalist of the World and European Championships Ivan Trajkovic.

True, all of his main achievements came at the beginning of the 2010s, and in recent years the Slovene has not achieved significant success, except for the bronze at the continental tournament in Kazan in 2018.

As a result, he failed to score more points than the modest taekwondo player from Tonga - 3:16.

Moreover, the opponent even managed to open an account thanks to a successful blow to the body. But the favorite responded with two accurate “shots” to the head, for which he received a total of six points and quickly went into the lead. In the future, he calmly increased his advantage, trying to save strength. Trajkovic tried to attack, but he did it somewhat doomed. Ivan himself perfectly understood that the difference in class between him and the Russian was too great.

In the semifinals, Vladislav completely agreed with Sun Hongji, who had reached this stage. The 27-year-old Chinese could hardly be called a medal contender, because he even qualified for the Olympic Games at the last moment, winning the Olympic qualifying tournament in Jordan this May. He also performed at the last World Cup, where he flew to the 1/16 finals. However, in Tokyo, Hongji managed to perform a real miracle. He consistently knocked out the strong British Mahama Cho and the European champion Croatian Ivan Shapin.

However, he could not oppose Larin and lost even more than Taufatofua - 3:30. Some semblance of a struggle persisted only in the first round, when the representative of the Celestial Empire scored his first point. In the second, he had serious problems. The Russian began to literally beat his modest opponent, striking in series. In total, in two minutes, he was marked by eight accurate hits, one of which came to the head. In the final stretch, the favorite just finished what he started.

Well, in the decisive confrontation, the domestic athlete met with the "Cinderella" in the person of Deyan Georgievsky. Fans waited for Kyo Don or Alba in the final, but the little-known 22-year-old Macedonian, who occupies only 39th place in the world ranking in the category over 80 kg, knocked out both of them. At first, in a difficult duel, he broke the resistance of the Cuban - 11: 8, and then beat the Korean - 12: 6. On the one hand, Larin simply had to win. On the other hand, his opponent had already made a couple of sensations, and nothing dominated him. And if he won, he could bring his country the first Olympic gold in 37 years.

As a result, Georgievsky, despite the title of an obvious underdog, managed to impose a fight on Vladislav.

The first round turned out to be extremely cautious and not too spectacular.

The opponents were in no hurry to attack and were a little nervous.

As a result, they scored only two points, both went to the domestic athlete.

First, the opponent was fined for a tack, and then the Russian himself delivered an accurate punch to the body.

For some reason, the Macedonian coaches decided to take the challenge at the very beginning of the fight, but the replay showed that the judge was right.

But the second segment came out much more fun.

Deyan managed to equalize the score, but Larin immediately scored two accurate kicks, including to the head, and again indicated the superiority.

Georgievsky was not going to give up and went into a rather active exchange, literally gnawing out every point.

And with a siren, he caught his opponent in error and returned the intrigue to the finale.

Fortunately, the class of the favorite showed itself in the final round.

He did not let the Macedonian come closer than two points to him, and then began to build up the advantage altogether.

In turn, his mentor took the challenge on time to give the ward a break.

In the last seconds, the opponent even gave up the fight and congratulated Larin on an absolutely deserved victory - 15: 9.

So, the Russians won two Olympic golds per day in taekwondo, although before that the country's assets had not been one.

Moreover, domestic taekwondo athletes confidently won the medal standings in their sport with four awards in total.