Olympic taekwondo practitioners for France

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.