Steven López
Five world titles and two Olympic golds for Team USA
- Born
- November 9, 1978, New York City, New York, US
- Nationality
United States- Height
- 191 cm (6′3″)
- Style
- Tight-final specialist
- Weight
- 68 kg, 72 kg, 78 kg, 80 kg
- Active
- 1994–2018
The medals
2 Olympic golds + bronze; 5 world titles
The story
teven López learned taekwondo at five in the family garage from his father and his older brother Jean, and grew up in Sugar Land, Texas. He won Olympic gold at 68 kg in Sydney in 2000 and at 80 kg in Athens in 2004, then took bronze in Beijing, where his brother Mark and sister Diana also won medals, the first time since 1904 that three siblings were on the same U.S. Olympic team. Between 2001 and 2009 he won five world titles, one at lightweight and four in a row at welterweight, often by a single point in the final. In 2016 he became the first taekwondo athlete to compete at five Olympic Games, beating fourth seed Albert Gaun in Rio before losing to Lutalo Muhammad. His career also went through troubles away from competition.
- Olympic champion, 68 kg (2000) and 80 kg (2004)
- Olympic bronze, 80 kg (2008)
- World champion (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009)
- Pan American Games champion (1999, 2003)
Defining matches
- 2000WINvs Sin Joon-sik (Sydney Olympic 68 kg final, 1-0)
- 2001WINvs Hadi Saei (World Championships 72 kg quarter-final, Jeju, 4-3)
- 2004WINvs Bahri Tanrıkulu (Athens Olympic 80 kg final, 3-0)
- 2008LOSSvs Mauro Sarmiento (Beijing Olympic 80 kg, 1-2; won bronze)
- 2009WINvs Nicolás García Hemme (World Championships 80 kg final, Copenhagen; fifth world title)
Win the close ones: López took world and Olympic finals by one point or on superiority, so drill the clean scoring kick you trust most for a level final round. Keep your guard and footwork tidy when ahead instead of chasing a bigger score.
1985–2004
1997–2008
2014–now