Lutalo Muhammad

Lutalo Muhammad

Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1991-06-03) 3 June 1991[1] Walthamstow, London[1]
Residence	Manchester, England[1]
Alma mater	Middlesex University[2]
Years active	2008–present
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Weight	80 kg (176 lb)[1]
Website	gbtaekwondo.co.uk
Sport
Country	Britain
Sport	Taekwondo
Event(s)	-80kg -87kg
Club	Wayne Muhammad Taekwondo Academy[1]
Coached by	Wayne Muhammad[1]
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	59 (-80kg) 7 (-87kg)
Medal record Competitor for  Great Britain Men’s taekwondo Olympic Games Bronze 2012 London -80 kg European Championships Gold 2012 Manchester -87 kg Bronze 2014 Baku -87 kg
Updated on 10 August 2012.

Lutalo Massop Muhammad (born 3 June 1991) is a British taekwondo athlete. He won the Gold medal in the -87 kg class at the 2012 European Taekwondo Championships^[3] and also won a bronze medal for Great Britain in the -80 kg class at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Muhammad was coached by his father, Wayne Muhammad, in the art of taekwondo from the age of three.^[1]

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 2012 Summer Olympics. 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.^[4] Muhammed received hate mail following his selection.^[5] 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.^[6]

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."^[7] In the games Muhammad reached the quarter-finals where he lost to Nicolás García of Spain.^[8] In the repechage he defeated Armenian Arman Yeremyan 9–3 winning a bronze medal.^[9]

Honours

• 2008 German Open (Gold)
• 2008 BTCB National Championships (Silver)
• 2008 BTCB British Open (Silver)
• 2009 Belgium Open (Bronze)
• 2010 BTCB National Championships (Silver)
• 2010 Dutch Open (Bronze)
• 2010 Spanish Open -80 kg (Bronze)
• 2010 Brussels Open -87 kg (Gold)
• 2011 Dutch Open -87 kg (Silver)
• 2011 National Championships (Bronze)
• 2011 Croatian Open (Bronze)
• 2012 German Open (Silver)
• 2012 Dutch Open (Bronze)
• 2012 London Olympics (Bronze)
• 2012 European Championships (Gold)
• GLL Sports Foundation Award (2008)
• Middlesex University Sportsman of the Year (2011)

References