Refugee athlete Dina Pouryounes Langeroudi edged out by Guo Qing in women’s -49kg taekwondo event at Paris 2024 Olympics
Dina Pouryounes Langeroudi has been a shining light for refugee athletes for more than eight years and made her second taekwondo appearance at an Olympic Games on Wednesday (7 August).
The 32-year-old was the first refugee to compete in a World Taekwondo Championships back in 2017, and went on to make her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 – losing to two-time Olympic gold medallist Wu Jingyu in the opening round.
This time around, the 11th seed faced a difficult -49kg round-of-16 contest at Paris 2024 against sixth seed and 2022 worlds silver medallist Guo Qing of the People’s Republic of China.
And ultimately it was a close-fought 5-4 first round that went the way of Guo which proved pivotal at the Grand Palais, with the Chinese 24-year-old going on to win the second round as well to make the quarters.
Pouryounes Langeroudi, who left the Islamic Republic of Iran and settled in the Netherlands, is a vastly experienced practitioner with multiple Grand Prix and World Championship appearances under her belt.
Her 2018 season was most impressive of all, where she defended her Turkish Open crown, won the Dutch Open title and then claimed silver at the European Senior Championships in Kazan.
The IOC took note of this and awarded her a Refugee Athlete Scholarship in time for Tokyo 2020, where the luck of – or lack of – the draw saw her face the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 champion Wu.
Pouryounes Langeroudi was unable to topple this giant of the sport, but remained motivated to make her second Olympic appearance three years later.
“Taekwondo is my whole life”, she told Olympics.com ahead of Paris 2024, “and there is nothing more important than taekwondo in my life. It has taught me a lot, like to be more disciplined, and I have achieved a lot thanks to it. Taekwondo itself is a motivation, it is a support system and a passion for me.”
And come the contest with China’s Guo, a thrilling bout saw both practitioners score three points with head kicks inside the first minute.
A punch to the body, worth one point, helped Guo edge ahead, and after a gam-jeom apiece it was the Chinese athlete who snatched the first round 5-4 on points.
The second round was far more dominant from Guo, who after two head kicks saved the best for last – a turning kick to the body worth four points – to seal victory.