Taekwondo: Historic gold medals for Marton and Katoussi. GETTY IMAGES

The third day of the Taekwondo tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games produced two big surprises in the women's -67kg and men's -80kg categories.

Hungarian youngster Viviana Marton and Tunisia's Firas Katoussi weren't on the list of gold medal contenders, but both will return to their home countries with Olympic titles.

Marton began her quest for the Olympic title with a win over two-time Olympic bronze medallist Ruth Gbagbi of Côte d'Ivoire. She then eliminated Kristina Teachout of the USA, who had beaten 2023 World Champion and home crowd favourite Magda Wiet-Henin. 

Action between Vivian Marton (blue) and Aleksandra Perisic during the final of the women's -67 kg category. GETTY IMAGES
Action between Vivian Marton (blue) and Aleksandra Perisic during the final of the women's -67 kg category. GETTY IMAGES

Marton's biggest win of the tournament came in the semi-final. In a close battle, she defeated World N1, 2022 World Champion, 19-year-old Belgian Sarah Chaari, who was the main favourite for the gold medal. 

The final step to the Olympic title was taken by Marton against Serbia's Aleksandra Perisic. The Hungarian won in two rounds to take the gold medal.

Marton's twin sister Luana became the first Hungarian taekwondo athlete to win a World Championship gold medal in 2023, and now Viviana has won the first Olympic gold medal for Hungary.

Firas Katoussi (in the centre) celebrating his victory with his coaches. GETTY IMAGES
Firas Katoussi (in the centre) celebrating his victory with his coaches. GETTY IMAGES

Teachout defeated Gbagbi in the repechage and China's Jie Song in the bronze medal match to win the USA's first taekwondo medal at Paris 2024. Chaari claimed the second bronze medal, defeating Uzbekistan's Ozoda Sobirjonova.

Katoussi became the first Tunisian taekwondo athlete to win an Olympic title. His team-mate Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi finished second at Tokyo 2020 and third at Paris 2024. And now Katoussi has raised the bar for the African country to become Olympic champions. 

Both finalists in the men's -80kg were underdogs in their groups. But Katoussi defeated world silver medallist CJ Nickolas of the USA in the semi-finals and Iran's Mehran Barkhordari knocked out world champion Simone Alessio of Italy and world number four Seo Geon-woo of Korea to reach the final.

World champion Simone Alessio finished third at the Paris 2024. GETTY IMAGES
World champion Simone Alessio finished third at the Paris 2024. GETTY IMAGES

Katoussi defeated Barkhodari in the final in two rounds to take the gold medal. In the replay of the 2023 World Championship final, Alessio defeated Nicholas to win the bronze medal. Denmark's Edi Hrnic took the second bronze medal.

The Taekwondo tournament will conclude on 10 August with the women's and men's super heavyweight categories.