Well, to all of the GB TKD team really, they seem to be on an upwards curve and really getting the results at the moment. Olympic Champion, Grand Prix and now European Games Champion. Congratulations! Mitch
Aye, Charlie Maddock too. Joined WTF TKD a year ago, World bronze medalist and Britain's first Euro Games champ!
The Olympic TKD programme is open to anyone. You go to the try outs and if you're good enough you can get on the team. Full Olympic deal; sponsorship, training, housing, etc etc. You live, sleep, eat Olympic TKD and if you're good enough you compete and win. If you're not, you better have bought a return on your ticket to Manchester. Charlie was something like a 7 times kickboxing champion before making the switch to TKD. The selection process doesn't care about your background, just whether you can win medals. Mitch
http://www.uksport.gov.uk/news/2013...en-fighting-chance-to-become-future-olympians I see 6 months of selection, loads of kick boxers on there, it just goes to show, fundamentals are fundamentals, they just need tweaking for rulesets.
I think the other thing is that it shows that those picking the athletes aren't influenced too much by TKD politics. The fact there are more ITF stylists than WTF on that list, and more kick boxers than both demonstrates that it's the chance of winning medals that matters more than the dobok, gi, or shiny trousers you wear Mitch
Didn't Jade Jones start with ITF too? Here are videos from the Euro Games (including TKD): https://www.youtube.com/user/baku2015/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=11
It bugs me a little that there are probably people fighting there that haven't been through the TKD grading process, learnt the poomsae, line work and all that? Just training purely for the olympic ruleset sparring?
Exactly. The next question is how much does that reflect normal sparring, and also reflect the normal aims and goals of the as a whole.
What's "normal" sparring. It's an Olympic sport and they are athletes training for a specific ruleset. How many Olympic archers or shooters run through the forrest shooting rabbits. No one in the association really cares, as long as they hit the targets and medal at comps. The pathways program has really demonstrated success particularly with a few of their athletes. The lack of a kukkiwon grading system is a bit of a misnomer, but then team GB is not the only one to fall short of this. Plenty of countries (russia, turkey, china) just picked a bunch of older gymnasts, particularly women, who could hold their leg above their head for 3x2 min rounds when the head kick touch rule came in. I'd rather see some ITF and kickboxing pro's step in and fight at the international level than some of the rubbish that was on play for the last few years in the tappy tappy head touch rule system.
What does the MAP massif think about GB's medal chances in this year's Olympics? A repeat by Jade Jones?
We follow Jade, Bianca and the TKD Team on Twitter and they seem confident. Jones has said she'll be devastated if she doesn't win. Bianca Walkden has made up for her 2012 injury by since becoming world champion and Muhammad Cho is looking strong also. I don't know anything about Mahama Cho, who is making his Olympic debut.
GBR is fielding one of the strongest teams at the Games. Maybe even more so than the Koreans, who are no longer the favourites they once were. Considering Europe is now considered the toughest region in the world, these are my predictions for Rio. Jade Jones: Silver. I'd love for her to repeat her 2012 success but I have a niggling feeling she'll struggle against longtime rival Eva Calvo Gomez from Spain. Jade's Olympic title four years ago was in part down to Huo Yuzhuo being injured going into the final, the result of chronic fatigue over a very intense competition cycle in the run-up to London. Jade has since become European Champion, European Games Champion and World Grand Prix Champion, so on paper she's the favourite. She'll definitely medal though. Bianca Walkden: Gold. This girl has been on fire this last 18 months. Like Simon said, she's been pretty unbeatable since becoming World Champion. She's European Champion too, and in the division Sarah Stevenson won bronze in back in Beijing 2008. If she continues with her form she should demolish everyone who stands in front of her. Lutalo Muhammad: Gold. Another fighter who has been very strong since London. I honestly thought GB Taekwondo would have chosen Damon Sansum (world silver medallist) as he's been the more consistent fighter, but Muhammad has a knack for pulling importany victories out of the bag when it counts. He's also more composed than Sansum, who the Olympic selectors thought might have suffered stage fright in the opening rounds. He's probably going to get a bronze at most when you look at his results over the last four years, silver at a push, but I'm rooting for the lad. He deserves it. Mahama Cho: Second round exit. He just hasn't had the consistency to challenge for a podium spot at Rio. Without wanting to take anything away from the guy (as he's an incredibly hard working athlete), his results have been kinda patchy and the big wins have been down to facing 'meh' opponents in the final stages of competitions. Whereas Jones, Walkden and Muhammad qualified automatically (they're ranked 1st, 2nd and 5th in their respective divisions), Cho had to rely on winning the Olympic Qualification Tournament to secure the +80kg berth in Rio. Still, I wish the lad well and hope to God he medals because he's actually one of the busier fighters in the slower heavyweight category. Other people to watch out for: Steven Lopez (going for his 3rd Olympic crown), Aaron Cook (ex British fighter representing Moldova after that fiasco four years ago) and Servet Tazegul (crazy good fighter from Turkey who is just amazing to watch).
Bianca looks great, doesn't she? Go scouse geerl! I really hope Lutalo does well too, he is a charming ambassador for the sport. Mitch
The two girls will do well. I don't share the same sentiment about Lutalo winning gold. There's so many good fighters in that division. Aaron Cook, Chiek Cisse, Tahir Güleç (GER), Cheick Cissé (CIV) and Mehdi Khodabakhshi (IRI) make up the rest of the people who directly qualified by world ranking. Each one stands a chance, at beating each other (and most of them have fought and won in either direction. Tahir less promising given recent form than the others. Personally I'd love if a few of the underdogs did well. Obviously I'm hoping the Australian does well. But Steven Lopez medalling would be both possible and great for the sport. I'm not sure he has what it takes to get the gold anymore though. The wildcard entry is a great story. Miguel is a standout positive representative of the sport in the Central/South America region. He's been competing consistently for years, but always has fallen short of the podium results at major comps. He's certainly on his way out as an athlete and was given the spot, I'm sure it would be a real boost for him. I think Cho is a great fighter as well. And has some serious potential for exciting fights at the games. He's got great flexibility for a heavy weight, and has got quite a few knockouts at international comps under his belt. I'd be putting my betting money on Cuba in this division though.