Panipak Wongpattanakit
Thailand's double Olympic champion with the scorpion kick
- Born
- August 8, 1997, Surat Thani, Thailand
- Nationality
Thailand- Height
- 173 cm (5′8″)
- Style
- Long-range high kicker
- Weight
- 46 kg, 49 kg
- Active
- 2013–2024
- Status
- Retired · age 29
The medals
2 Olympic golds + bronze; 2 world titles, 5 world medals
The story
anipak Wongpattanakit got her nickname, Tennis, from a sports-loving father who named each of his children after a sport. Raised in Surat Thani, she lost every bout at her first tournament and decided to take taekwondo seriously. She was world champion at 46 kg in 2015, took Olympic bronze in Rio after losing a quarter-final in its last seconds to the eventual champion, and nearly quit before returning to win the 2019 world title over Wu Jingyu. At Tokyo 2020 she edged Adriana Cerezo 11-10 for Thailand's first Olympic taekwondo gold, and in Paris she beat Guo Qing to become the first Thai athlete with two Olympic golds. At 173 cm she was tall for a flyweight and scored from long range and with her scorpion kick. She retired after Paris.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion, 49 kg (2020, 2024)
- Olympic bronze, 49 kg (2016)
- World champion, 46 kg (2015) and 49 kg (2019)
- Asian Games champion, 49 kg (2018, 2022)
- Youth Olympic champion (2014)
- World Taekwondo Female Athlete of the Year (2019)
- Companion, Order of Direkgunabhorn, Thailand (2020)
Defining matches
- 2015WINvs Iryna Romoldanova (World Championships 46 kg final, Chelyabinsk)
- 2016LOSSvs Kim So-hui (Rio Olympic 49 kg quarter-final, 5-6 in the last seconds; went on to bronze)
- 2019WINvs Wu Jingyu (World Championships 49 kg final, Manchester, 21-6)
- 2021WINvs Adriana Cerezo (Tokyo Olympic 49 kg final, 11-10)
- 2024WINvs Guo Qing (Paris Olympic 49 kg final, 2-1 in rounds)
Drill the scorpion kick: when the opponent is close or slightly behind your shoulder, lift the leg up behind you, bending at the knee like a tail, and strike the body protector. Her coach had the Thai team practise it with a ball for an hour a day, so start slowly against a pad held behind you.
2014–now
