Lutalo Muhammad (born 3 June 1991) is a British retired

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 who represented Great Britain at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, winning a bronze medal, and the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, winning a silver medal. He won the gold medal in the −87 kg class at the 2012 European Taekwondo Championships.

Early life

Muhammad was born on 3 June 1991 in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

, London, England. He was coached by his father, Wayne Muhammad, in the art of

from the age of three. His grandparents were immigrants to the UK.

2012 Summer Olympics

Muhammad won the gold medal in the −87 kg class at the 2012 European Taekwondo Championships. There is no −87 kg category in the Olympic Games; however, Muhammad was selected to be Britain's representative in the −80 kg category at the

. This decision was controversial as he was selected instead of Aaron Cook, who was the World No. 1 and European champion in the −80 kg class. The controversy attracted considerable attention in the media. The decision drew criticism from former athletes such as John Cullen and Steve Redgrave. Muhammed received hate mail following his selection. GB performance director Gary Hall defended his selection and said "Aaron has a bigger marketing machine than the whole of GB Taekwondo", whilst fellow taekwondo competitor Sarah Stevenson dismissed the world rankings as inconsequential. Muhammad stated that "Unfortunately with the nature of sport there are always going to be winners and losers so I wish him all the best for his future, but my focus right now is not Aaron Cook, it's a gold medal in London." In the Games, Muhammad reached the quarter-finals where he lost to Nicolás García of Spain. In the repechage, he defeated Armenian Arman Yeremyan 9–3 winning a bronze medal.

2016 Summer Olympics

Muhammad won the Olympic silver medal −80 kg category improving on his bronze from 2012. Muhammad was leading 6–4 in the final before losing in the last second to Cheick Sallah Cisse of Ivory Coast. Down by two points and only one second remaining, Cisse released a spinning hook kick that landed on Muhammad's head, scoring 4 points and winning the bout.

2020 Summer Olympics

Muhammad was not selected for the 2020 Olympics, instead working in media as a pundit for the BBC.

Retirement

Muhammad announced his retirement in September 2022.

Honours

*2008 German Open (Gold) Jnr *GLL Sports Foundation Award (2008) *Middlesex University Sportsman of the Year (2011) *2012 London Olympics (Bronze) * 2012 European Championships (Gold) *Middlesex University Sportsman of the Year (2012) *2013 National Championships (Gold) *2013 World Grand Prix Final (Gold) * 2014 European Championships (Bronze) *2014 National Championships (Gold) *2014 Commonwealth Championships (Gold) *2015 European Club Championships (Gold) *2015 European Olympic Games (Bronze) *2015 World Grand Prix Final (Gold) *2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics (Silver)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad, Lutalo 1991 births Living people English male taekwondo practitioners Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Great Britain Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people Taekwondo practitioners at the 2012 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2016 Summer Olympics Alumni of Middlesex University Sportspeople from Manchester People from Walthamstow Sportspeople from the London Borough of Waltham Forest Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in taekwondo Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Taekwondo practitioners at the 2015 European Games European Games medalists in taekwondo European Games bronze medalists for Great Britain English people of Zimbabwean descent Sportspeople of Zimbabwean descent European Taekwondo Championships medalists 21st-century English sportsmen