I did an in-depth study of the past World Junior Taekwondo Championships last month. After the 2012 competition held in Sharm El Cheick (Egypt) two weeks ago, lets see if there are any evolutions in the trends that we identified.
- Korea is still the undisputed leader
The Korean federation scored the same number of medals (11) this year and even won more points: in 2010 they scored two fewer bronze medals, but one more silver and one more gold.
- Countries previously on the increase stagnate
Iran, Turkey and Jordan got solid results but not as high as we would have expected from their past 2006-2010 upward trend. The Croatians however, just succeeded in scoring one medal, a bronze one. They are back where they were in 2004.
- Countries previously on the decline are back in the game
France, Thailand and Taiwan all did better than in 2010, giving a new shape to the current trend of their results. Even better, France and Taiwan, with one gold medals and two silver medals, are ranked 4th ex-aequo in the medal tally.
- National teams that have fallen remain in turmoil
No visible improvements for Spain, Greece or Italy. Are the heads of these federation realizing that this is a tough situation for their future top senior athletes ?
Congrats to the Russians, who blew by their past results and climbed to rank #2.
Complete results: See the medal tally of the 9th World Junior Taekwondo Championships.
