European Taekwondo Championships medalists

Pascal_Gentil

Pascal Gentil (born 15 May 1973 in Paris) is a French taekwondo practitioner. A three-time winner of the European Championships, four-time World Cup Champion and Olympic bronze medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Pascal Gentil is the most decorated taekwondo practitioner in French taekwondo history.
The S Class International Olympic Referee Dr. Mohamed Riad Ibrahim was the Referee in the Final Match of Pascal Gentil in the 2004 Summer Olympic in Athens, and in this Match Pascal Gentil Won the bronze medal.
Captain of the French taekwondo team, Pascal Gentil won his third European title in October 2005 in Riga giving the French team a second position among the European countries behind Turkey with 6 medals including 3 titles. The ranking is the same as for the Athens Games with 2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze) as France finished as 2nd best European country behind Greece (host country).
To prepare for the Olympics, the French Taekwondo Federation set up training centres by grouping together in different locations the best French athletes according to weight categories. Pascal Gentil is a member of Institut National des Sports et de l'Éducation Physique France Training Centre where he trains an average of 20 hours per week together with the best French taekwondo practitioners.
He was selected for the Beijing Games to snatch the gold medal. His opponent for the selection was Mickaël Borot who obtained the French quota in the category by winning the Olympic qualification tournament in Manchester in 2007.However, during a training session on the 25 July 2008, Pascal sustained an injury (a rupture of the plantar aponeurosis). Mickaël Borot was officially appointed the representative on 6 August by the FFTDA (French Taekwondo Federation. The event lead to a crisis week for French taekwondo as Mickaël Borot criticised the French Taekwondo Federation and Pascal Gentil.On 5 February 2009 he announced to the press that he would give up his sport career in taekwondo after the French Championships in Lyon on 7 February. In Lyon, he obtained his 14th French Champion title after defeating Mickaël Borot in the final.

Christophe_Negrel

Christophe Negrel (born May 25, 1977 in Marseille) is a French taekwondo practitioner, who competed in the men's welterweight category. He picked up a total of eight medals in his career, including three from the European Championships and a silver in the 70-kg division from the 1997 World Taekwondo Championships in Hong Kong, and attained a top eight finish at the 2004 Summer Olympics, representing his nation France. Throughout his sporting career, Negrel trained full-time for La Rose Boxing and Taekwondo Club in his native Marseilles, and also became a full-fledged member of the French taekwondo squad since 1996, under head coach and master Philippe Pinard.Negrel started his sporting career by picking up a bronze medal at the 1994 European Junior Championships in Bucharest, Romania. Three years later, he made his official debut in the senior division and eventually claimed a silver in the 70-kg class at the 1997 World Taekwondo Championships in Hong Kong, losing the final to Egypt's Tamer Abdelmoneim Hussein. In 2003, Negrel reached the pinnacle of his sporting career, as he secured a gold medal victory over Iran's Yousef Karami and a spot on the French Olympic squad in the 80-kg class at the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Paris.At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Negrel qualified for the French squad in the men's welterweight class (80 kg), by topping the field of fighters and granting a berth from the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Paris. As the top seeder of the prelim draw, Negrel opened his match with a powerful 13–10 victory over Dutch taekwondo jin Patrick Stevens before he fell in a stunning 17–24 defeat to Azerbaijan's Rashad Ahmadov in the quarterfinals.

Anne-Caroline_Graffe

Anne-Caroline Graffe (born 12 February 1986 in Papeete, Tahiti in French Polynesia) is a French taekwondo athlete.Graffe took up taekwondo when she was 11 years old. She left Tahiti for metropolitan France when she was 18 years old.She won the women's heavyweight title at the 2011 World Taekwondo Championships, held in Gyeongju, South Korea, defeating South Korean An Sae-Bom 1–0 in the final.She won the gold medal at the 2012 European Taekwondo Championships.
Graffe, who had been training under Myriam Baverel at the Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance (INSEP) for five years, had only been entered for the competition a month before the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics following the withdrawal due to injury of Gwladys Épangue. She was the first Polynesian to represent France at the Olympic Games. In her first Olympic competition, she was seeded number one. She cruised through the early rounds to reach the final, where she met Serbia's Milica Mandić. After a tight opening two rounds, Mandić opened up in the third and picked off Graffe with rapid kicks to the body and ran out a 9-7 winner.