Park Tae-joon (Korean: 박태준; born 6 June 2004) is a South Korean taekwondo athlete. He won a gold medal in his World Taekwondo Championships debut in the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Park participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France, where he won the gold medal in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event.
In the most recent 2024 March World Taekwondo ranking, Park is ranked 1st in the men's -54 kg (finweight) World Kyorugi Category, and is ranked 5th in the men's -58 kg (flyweight) Olympic Kyorugi Category.
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Career
Cadet
In 2016, Park won a gold medal at the Russian Open Tournament in the Cadet Male flyweight (-37 kg) event.
Junior
In 2019, Park won a gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in the Juniors Male finweight (-45 kg) event. Wuhoo
Senior
In 2022, Park won his first gold medal in the Senior category at the 2022 Asian Taekwondo Championships in the Men's finweight (-54 kg) event. He also won gold medals that year at the Korea Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Chuncheon, in the men's finweight (-54 kg) event, and at the 2022 World Taekwondo Grand Prix held in Manchester, in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event.
In February 2023, Park won a gold medal in the Canada Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Vancouver, in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event. In March, he won a gold medal at the US Taekwondo Open Tournament held in Las Vegas, in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event. He later won a gold medal at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in June, his first senior category World Championships in the men's finweight (-54 kg) event. He was given the men's most valuable player award, as a recognition of his outstanding performance during the Championships.
In October 2023, Park participated in Series 3 of the Grand Prix Series and won a bronze medal after losing a fight of 2-1 against Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi. In February 2024, he won a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics dispatch national team selection, thus qualifying to compete in the Olympics in the men's flyweight (-58 kg) event. He defeated a previous Olympic medalist, Jang Jun, 2-0 to qualify.
During the 2024 Summer Olympics, Park won a gold medal in the men's 58 kg category. He defeated Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia and Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan. His win has been described as an upswing for South Korea, as it did not win any Taekwondo gold medals while participating in the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Park won gold in the men's -58 kg category for the 2025 Chuncheon Korean Open, defeating Yang Hui Chan. He also won gold in the 2025 World Taekwondo Grand Slam Challenge in Wuxi after his opponent was forced to withdraw due to injury. During the 2025 World Grand Prix Challenge in Bangkok, Park won bronze in the mens -58 kg weight class after his opponent pulled out of the fight due to an injury he had sustained earlier.
In 2026, Park won back to back gold medals in the men's -58 kg category at the Altaic Taekwondo Championships and the men's -63kg category at the Kazakhstan Open. He also fought at the Roma 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix in the men's -58 kg division, going down in the quarter final to eventual gold medallist Vito Dell'Aquila. However, later in the year at the Muju Taekwondowon 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix series, he defeated Vito in the semifinals of the men's -58 kg event, before losing by 1 point in the final match against two-time world champion, Bae Jun Seo.