Moon rising: Gold medal winner eyes comeback

Moon Dae-sung, a gold medal winner at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, is returning to the taekwondo arena for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after working the past three years as a professor.
“Despite the fact that Korea is where the sport originated, Korean taekwondo athletes have been struggling in recent international matches ― especially in the heavyweight division, where they are supposed to be the best,” said Moon, 31, now a professor in the athletic department at Busan-based Donga University.
“I have decided to come back as an athlete to bring a breath of fresh air to Korea’s taekwondo,” Moon said at a Seoul press conference Friday.
In the Athens Olympics three years ago, Moon gained fame by fascinating a global audience with his powerful roundhouse kick that knocked out his opponent in the over-80 kilogram match.
Having won three championship titles ― the World Championship in 1999, the Busan Asian Games in 2002 and the Athens Olympics in 2004 ― Moon retired after returning from Greece, opting to become a professor.
For a while he enjoyed celebrity status, making appearances at fashion shows, doing TV commercials and appearing in fashion magazines as a model.
But the gold medal winner said he began agonizing over whether to return as an athlete after watching Korean heavyweight taekwondo athletes struggle against their Chinese counterparts at the Beijing World Championship last month.
At about the same time, the Korea Taekwondo Association announced that it would choose a heavyweight division for Korean athletes to compete at the Beijing Olympics, “to uphold Korean pride.”
Under International Olympic Committee rules for taekwondo, nations are allowed to compete in only two weight divisions. The rule is meant to prevent one country from dominanting the event.
Retirees in taekwondo also urged a comeback for Moon, who is in decent shape.
“My condition is about 80 percent from when I gave my best performance,” said Moon, who also may try to become an International Olympic Committee member.

By Jung Yong-joon Contributing Writer [ebusiness@joongang.co.kr]