Wu Jingyu
The axe-kicking flyweight who won two Olympics
- Born
- February 1, 1987, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China
- Nationality
China- Height
- 167 cm (5′6″)
- Style
- Axe-kicking flyweight
- Weight
- 47 kg, 49 kg
- Active
- 2005–2021
- Status
- Retired · age 39
The medals
2 Olympic golds; 2 world titles, 5 world medals
The story
u Jingyu, from Jingdezhen, China's porcelain capital, started taekwondo at 13, and in 2006 she beat a world champion who stood 15 centimetres taller. She won the world 47 kg title in 2007, took Olympic 49 kg gold on home soil in Beijing in 2008 and defended it in London in 2012, beating Spain's Brigitte Yagüe 8-1 in the final. A second world title came in 2011, and the sport's governing body named her its female player of the year in 2015. After her daughter was born in 2017 she came back to win Grand Prix events and a world silver, and in Tokyo she became the first woman to fight at four straight Olympic taekwondo tournaments. The axe kick was her signature technique.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion, 49 kg (2008, 2012)
- World champion, 47 kg (2007) and 49 kg (2011)
- Asian Games champion (2006, 2010)
- WTF Female Player of the Year (2015)
Defining matches
- 2007WINvs Yaowapa Boorapolchai (World Championships 47 kg final, Beijing, 5-0)
- 2008WINvs Buttree Puedpong (Beijing Olympic 49 kg final, 1 to −1)
- 2012WINvs Brigitte Yagüe (London Olympic 49 kg final, 8-1)
- 2016LOSSvs Tijana Bogdanović (Rio Olympic 49 kg quarter-final, 7-17)
- 2019LOSSvs Panipak Wongpattanakit (World Championships 49 kg final, Manchester, 6-21)
Use the axe kick against taller opponents: lift the straight leg above their head, then drive the heel straight down onto the head guard. Throw it as they lean in to attack, not from long range where they can see it rise.
2002–2016
1966–1983
