Caden Luis Cunningham (born 7 May 2003) is a British

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 ...

practitioner. He competes in the + 87 kg

Heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

division.

Early life

Cunningham is from

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, Yorkshire. He attended

King James's School, Almondbury King James's School is a coeducational secondary school located in Almondbury in the English county of West Yorkshire. History King James's Grammar School was founded as chantry school in 1547 and received its name and a royal charter in 1608 ...

. He trained at Quest Taekwondo as a youngster.

Career

Cunningham was a precocious talent winning his first overseas Taekwondo title in Germany, aged twelve years-old. He was subsequently selected to represent Europe at the Children's Taekwondo Union Europe/Asia Challenge in 2016. Cunningham become the British Cadet taekwondo champion at the national finals in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in 2017, winning the male −49 kg category. He was subsequently selected to represent Great Britain at the European Championships in Hungary later that year. In his opening fight of the 2022 World Championships he injured the

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

in his knee but still won the bout, although he missed several months of competitive action after the tournament. Cunningham won the +80 kg division at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix held at the

Foro Italico Foro Italico is a sports complex in Rome, Italy, on the slopes of Monte Mario. It was built between 1928 and 1938 as the Foro Mussolini (literally Benito Mussolini, Mussolini's Forum (Roman), Forum) under the design of Enrico Del Debbio and, lat ...

, Rome in June 2023. He defeated

Nikita Rafalovich Nikita Rafalovich (born 10 October 1993) is an Uzbekistani taekwondo athlete. Career Rafalovich represented Uzbekistan at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's 80 kg. He qualified to represent Uzbekistan at the 2020 Summer Ol ...

of Uzbekistan in the final. That month he was also announced in the British squad to take part in the

2023 European Games The 3rd European Games (), also known as the 2023 European Games or Kraków-Małopolska 2023, was an international multi-sport event held from 21 June to 2 July 2023 in Kraków and Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Małopolska, Poland. It was the first ...

held in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. Cunningham won the gold medal at the Games in the Men's +87 kg division. In June 2024, he was selected for the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. Cunningham won the silver medal in the men's 80+Kg category.

References

External links

* * * * * * * 2003 births Living people British male taekwondo practitioners Sportspeople from Huddersfield Place of birth missing (living people) European Games gold medalists for Great Britain Taekwondo practitioners at the 2023 European Games European Games medalists in taekwondo People educated at King James's School, Almondbury European Taekwondo Championships medalists Taekwondo practitioners at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in taekwondo 21st-century British sportsmen {{UK-taekwondo-bio-stub