SEOUL, South Korea—A martial artist inadvertently kicked himself in the head in the final match of a tae kwon do tournament, flooring his opponent, the judges, and the audience—but especially himself, as he knocked himself out, landing face down on the mat in what is considered a first in the sport’s history.
Hy Kek, 19, a Cambodian American, was considered a rising star in the tae kwon do world but was the definite underdog against the defending champion, a South Korean known as “‘Big Kim.” The match was tied and was in the final “golden point round,” where the first person to score wins. Although the older, vastly more experienced Big Kim clearly had a leg up over his younger, overachieving opponent in the decisive tie-breaker, nobody could have guessed that the leg giving him the advantage—and ultimately, the win—would belong to his opponent. Some at the tournament recalled that Kek had figuratively put his foot in his mouth moments before he literally did so when he yelled that Big Kim was a disgrace to the sport because Kim, who is bigger and heavier and less flexible than a prototypical tae kwon do champion, had difficulty kicking above his head. Then, as if trying to prove his point, Kek launched the ax kick that ended up hitting Kek square in his own face.
A tournament judge said that in the seconds after Kek hit the floor, the arena was hushed as the stunned spectators and staff did not know what to make of what they had just seen. She said even the tournament doctor, a 22-year veteran of the fight scene, wasn’t sure what had happened. “I’ve seen refs and even a spectator knocked out,” the judge said, “but never this. The really bizarre thing is that we weren’t even sure who’d won. Head kicks are worth three points, so technically Kek had just scored, which under pretty much any other circumstances would’ve made him the winner. But then he was also lying face down on the mat, out cold. We even kicked around the idea of declaring him both the winner and the loser.” She said that in the end they kicked the decision up to the president of the Global Taekwondo Federation, who was in the audience, and the president declared Kim the winner.
Kek regained consciousness within a few minutes and did not sustain any serious injuries. When he awoke, he received a standing ovation from the still shocked but relieved crowd. Some spectators said that Kek actually seemed to get a kick from the whole incident, even clapping for himself. And though he may never live down what happened, he may have also left an indelible—if unintentional—mark, in the shape of his footprint, on the sport: The International Olympic Committee is reportedly considering a new tae kwon do event in which competitors fight themselves.
