Heartbreak in Paris as Carlos Sansores Falls Short of Olympic Bronze

The national taekwondo team member Carlos Sansores was close to reaching the podium at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after losing in the bronze medal match in the +80 kilogram category.

The three-time world medalist lost 1-2 to the Ivorian Cheick Cissé (the current world champion), so the possibility of Mexico reaching six medals in the "City of Light" (currently three silver and two bronze) and being able to surpass what was achieved in Rio 2016, an edition in which it closed with the same number and color of medals that it has in the French capital one day before the closing ceremony, disappeared.

In his first fight of the day, the current Pan American champion categorically defeated Johnouario Gomis, from Guinea-Bissau and the oldest fighter in this division (37 years old), 2-0, by connecting offensive moves with accurate kicks that gave him a total of 15 points (eight in the first round and seven in the second) compared to only two for the African.

The world champion in Guadalajara 2022 returned to the tatami to face the quarterfinals against the Iranian Arian Salimi, the bronze medalist at the Baku 2023 World Championship, and whom he had defeated in the first round by a narrow margin of 2 to 1.

Despite the good start of the contest, the Quintana Roo native was surprised by Salimi's response, who went on the offensive with kicks to the head through which he was able to take the next two rounds (6-4 and 12-0) to advance to the semifinals, and for the Aztec to wait for the possibility of going to the repechage for the bronze if the Asian reached the final.

This condition was met, so Sansores moved on to the repechage, where he clashed head-to-head with the Uzbek and also three-time world medalist, Nikita Rafalovich, who started the dispute with a victory in the first round, but was unable to hold off the national in the next two, who came from behind to consolidate the comeback and claim victory by a score of 2-1.

The head-to-head for bronze was a reissue of the grand final of the Baku 2023 World Taekwondo Championship, a tournament in which Cissé took gold thanks to his victory over the Mexican, a result that was repeated in Paris 2024 with a dramatic 2-1 that was decided in the last seconds of the third round in favor of the African, so that Sansores could say goodbye to the summer event without the long-awaited Olympic medal.

We are going to fight for that Olympic medal for Mexico: Carlos Sansores

The national taekwondo team member Carlos Sansores Acevedo lost the fight for the bronze in the +80 kilogram category against the Ivorian Cheick Cissé 1-2, which left him one step away from winning his first Olympic medal.

“Sadly I did not get the result, the competitor from the Ivory Coast is quite strong, but I went to that fight and it happened, I got motivated, he scored one last point and with that he secured his victory, but that's how sport is,” he commented.

“It leaves me with deep sadness because I promised a medal to my country, to my people; However, I fight every day with a lot of love to make them feel proud, but that's the sport and now it was my turn to lose and I hope to continue giving joy and giving all my effort so that Mexicans feel proud," said the world champion in 2022.

Carlos Sansores extended his stay in the Parisian tournament, going further than the first fight he experienced in Tokyo 2020, so, after having touched the podium in this edition, he affirmed that he will continue in search of the longed-for Olympic medal.

"That's how the Olympic Games are and I know that later a medal can be given to Mexico, this is not lost, that's the sport and we are going to fight for that medal at some point," he commented.

With its fifth-placeplace finish in the Paris 2024, Mexico closed its participation in Olympic taekwondo after the performance of Daniela Souza, who fell in the Round of 16 in the -49 kilogram category.