But that route has been less than straightforward as the under-54 category is not one of the four men's Olympic weight divisions.

A career that began with a world junior title in 2016 reached a high point when Bae beat Russia's Georgy Popov 53-24 in the Manchester final.

By the end of the 2019 season, however, before the coronavirus lockdown froze the action in 2020, Bae had already had his first outing in the under-58kg, or flyweight category, that is currently the lightest on the Games programme.

It could not have gone better, as he won the title at the Grand Slam in Wuxi, defeating fellow countryman Lee Min-Yeong 2-1 in the final.

"I will make it to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in five years, I will make sure of it," he told World Taekwondo.

"I will train with the seniors and control all physical and mental aspects of the training."

Since resuming the sport in 2021, Bae has maintained strong momentum - and earned a second world title.

At the start of 2021 he dropped back down to his former weight category of under-54kg and won the Asian Championships in Beirut, beating Iran's Hossein Lotfi 34-13 in the final.

Shortly afterwards he moved back up to the under-58kg category to win the Beirut Open, and he stayed at that weight in 2022, underlining his huge potential as he took the Asian Championships under-58kg title.

That was ideal preparation for him to defend his world under-54kg title in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, where - despite being ultimately unsuccessful - he contributed to one of the most celebrated contests in the event's history.

Bae was involved in a classic semi-final with home favourite Cesar Rodriguez that amazed the sizeable and voluble crowd.

After two rounds that featured stunning body shots and head kicks, the match went to a decider and was only decided in the closing seconds.

Rodriguez twice received medical treatment and looked exhausted but summoned the energy to land the crucial body shot to defeat the defending champion.

It was a match worthy of being the final but the home athlete’s efforts were not enough to seal gold as he lost the final to Hungary’s Omar Salim, who thus replicated the world title victory his father had achieved 31 years earlier.

Bae had to settle for a second world medal of a different colour as he secured bronze.

At the 2023 World Championships in Baku, however, still only 22, the South Korean athlete returned to the top of the global podium - this time in the under-58kg category.

What made his victory even more impressive was that he lost only one round in his six contests - with Mohamed Jendoubi of Tunisia being the only competitor to spoil his perfect record.

Gold was sealed with a 2-0 win over Russia’s Georgii Gurtsiev.

So now he turns his thoughts to the Paris 2024 Olympics - although earning that under-58kg spot for South Korea in the first place could prove highly challenging given the rival claims of compatriot Jang Jun, eight months his senior, who won bronze in that category at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and has also earned world gold and silver.