Ahmad Abughaush (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: أحمد أبو غوش; born 1 February 1996) is a Jordanian

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

athlete. He won the gold medal in the 68 kg category at the 2016 Olympics. This was

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

's first Olympic medal in any sport, excluding a bronze in 1988 when taekwondo was a demonstration sport.

Biography

Abughaush was born in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

, Jordan. His father is of

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

descent, his grandparents having been relocated from the town of

Abu Ghosh Abu Ghosh (; ) is an Arab-Israeli local council in Israel, located west of Jerusalem on the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem highway. It is situated 610–720 meters above sea level. It takes its current name from the dominant clan inhabiting the town, ...

to Jordan decades earlier. Abughaush started Taekwondo at a local training center in Amman, his skills qualified him for inclusion in the national team. In 2010, he participated in the Taekwondo World Championship for juniors that was held in

Sharm el-Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh (, , literally "bay of the Sheikh"), alternatively rendered Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el Sheikh, or Sharm El-Sheikh, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip alo ...

, where he was the only Arab athlete to achieve a gold medal. The year later he competed as an elite at the

2011 World Taekwondo Championships The 2011 World Taekwondo Championships was the 20th edition of the World Taekwondo Championships, and was held at Gyeongju Indoor Stadium in Gyeongju, South Korea from May 1 to May 6, 2011. Medal table Medal summary Men Women Team ranking ...

in the men's finweight event and was beaten by Meisam Bagheri in the 16th finals. He participated in a number of more championships and was given the best Jordanian athlete award by the

Jordan Olympic Committee Jordan Olympic Committee (, IOC code: JOR) is the National Olympic Committee representing Jordan. Member federations * Jordan Athletics Federation * Jordan Badminton Federation * Jordan Basketball Federation * Jordan Federation for Billiard a ...

in 2012. Abugaush took a year off in 2013 after he had suffered a rupture in the

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

, he soon returned to training and won gold medals in a number of international championships in 2014.

2016 Summer Olympics

Abughaush competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's 68 kg, where he won the gold medal, defeating Alexey Denisenko from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. This was Jordan's first ever Olympic medal. Abughaush told the press "it's an indescribable feeling to win the first medal in the history of Jordan in all the sports" and said "it's also a great feeling to listen to the national anthem of Jordan being played in Rio in front of the whole world." In an interview with Ro'ya TV, Abughaush's parents said that "Ahmad's accomplishment is an honour to Jordan". They went on to thank the

and the

Jordanian Royal family The Hashemites (), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921–1958). The family had ruled the city of Me ...

for their support, namely

King Abdullah II Abdullah II (Abdullah bin Hussein; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of the Hashemites, who have been the reigning royal family of Jordan since 1921, and is traditionally reg ...

, Crown Prince Hussein and Prince Ali. King Abdullah and Prince Hussein personally called Abughaush to congratulate him on his accomplishment, while Prince Ali, who is well known for sponsoring sports in Jordan, had also personally supported Abughaush's path to the Olympics. The Jordan Olympic Committee issued a 100,000 JD (around $141,000) award for Abughaush and a 50,000 JD (around $71,000) for his coach Faris Al-Assaf, upon their return from Rio.

Queen Alia International Airport Queen Alia International Airport () is an international airport located in Zizya, 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Amman, the capital and largest city of Jordan. It is the largest airport in the country, named after Queen Alia, who died in a ...

witnessed a large public celebration for Abughaush and the Olympic delegation.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abughaush, Ahmad 1996 births Living people Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Jordan Taekwondo practitioners at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Jordan Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Jordanian people of Palestinian descent Olympic medalists in taekwondo Sportspeople from Amman Summer World University Games medalists in taekwondo Taekwondo practitioners at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for Jordan Asian Games medalists in taekwondo Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Universiade medalists for Jordan Jordanian male taekwondo practitioners World Taekwondo Championships medalists Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade 21st-century Jordanian sportsmen