Taekwondo Champion Has Sights on Gold

Daehan Sports Stadium is on the third floor of a modest building located in the Central Market in Incheon.

This stadium may look like any ordinary countryside stadium, but this is where Korea’s best female Taekwondo fighter trains. Pictures of award ceremonies and trophies that fill the room attest to this.

At 181cm and 70kg, she eclipses even men-

Ahn Sae-bom, 17, a junior at Ganghwa Girls High School, has the right measurements at 181cm and 70kg. She is poised to win gold at the 2009 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

“Usually female fighters have one or two techniques only, and rely heavily on timing. Se-bom has strength and basic technique,” says Yoo Byung-gwan, Taekwondo professor at Yongin University. “She uses different kick moves to fight different opponents. I am sure she will become a world Taekwondo star, if she trains consistently.

Ahn, despite the prejudices one can have about strong fighters, gives off a soft impression.

“I started the sport when I was in first grade. It just seemed fun and cool back then. In my third year of middle school, after seeing Moon Dae-sung compete at the Olympics in Athens, I decided to give up everything for this sport.”

“She looks soft from the outside, but she has great will. If I teach her one technique, she figures two techniques out by herself,” said Coach Yeom Gwan-woo, who coached her since elementary school.

After graduating from middle school, she started training for an hour every morning, two hours and a half after coming home from school, and another hour in the evening.

She cannot look braver as she practices kicking techniques, but she has had her share of hardships.

“The judge’s scorekeeping can drive you nuts. There are times when I cannot get a single point, even after trying every technique in my book.”

Biased scorekeeping dealt many blows to the young fighter. “Fighters from the countryside have many disadvantages. I tell my fighters that unless they outperform their opponents by a big margin, the judges will treat them unfairly and give more points for the opponents,” Couch Yeom said. “This is why my fighters have such great technical ability.”

An Olympic gold contender-

Ahn has another set of worries.

Many universities and company teams are trying to scout Ahn, who will become a senior high school student this March. They are trying to win her parents over with scholarships under the condition that she wins medals at international events.

“I want to hug Coach Yeom and my parents with a gold medal around my neck,” says Ahn. Her immediate goal is to win at the national finals in February, and win a gold medal in the world championship. It will be an important year for the 17-year-old.

jaeyuna@donga.com