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Countdown to Beijing '08 - Taekwondo
// USOC Media Services // October 3, 2006
Outlook
The forecast is bright for USA Taekwondo as it gazes at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing two years on the horizon. U.S. athletes are dominating their competitions like never before, thanks in large part to the stabilization of the National Governing Body and the integration of a high-performance training system for both athletes and coaches.
The National Team program boasts two of the most respected and knowledgeable coaches in the game: Jean Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas) and Juan Moreno (Miami, Fla.). Lopez, the 2004 Olympic coach, and Moreno, a three-time Olympian, are overseeing all training and competition coaching for both the Junior and Senior National Teams.
The U.S. team will look to continue its Olympic Games success in Beijing. The United States has medaled in the sport of Taekwondo in each of the four Olympic Games that it has participated in, winning 20 medals from 29 athletes for a success rate of 69 percent. Taekwondo was a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992, becoming an official part of the Olympic program in 2000.
In Athens in 2004, the U.S. sent two athletes and both came home with hardware: gold for Steven Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas) and silver for Nia Abdallah (Houston, Texas). Both Lopez, 27 (the younger brother of Jean), and Abdallah, 22, are current National Team members and will be strong contenders for the 2008 team along with two other Lopez siblings, Mark, 24, and Diana, 22.
Steven Lopez has not lost a match since 1999, winning three straight world championships (2001, 2003 & 2005) and two consecutive Olympic gold medals (2000 & 2004). And his two siblings have been equally untouchable of late. All three won world championship titles in 2005 (coached by older brother Jean) and are the frontrunners to take three of the four Olympic Team positions in Beijing.
Storylines
The Lopez Family (“Family Taes”) (“First Family of Taekwondo”)
Undoubtedly, one of the top stories of the Beijing Games could be that of three siblings all on the same Olympic Team and coached by their older brother. The possibility of this scenario is more fact than fiction, given the dominating performances of late by the Lopez siblings from Sugar Land, Texas.
Steven Lopez, 27, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2000 & 2004) and a three-time world champion (2001, 2003 & 2005). In fact, he has not been beaten by anyone since 1999. He can be considered the Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods of his sport…a living legend.
So it’s not surprising that his success would rub off on his two younger siblings, Mark, 24, and Diana, 22.
All three won world championship titles in 2005 in the span of three days, an unprecedented feat in the annals of sport. And to top it off, they were all coached to their victories by older brother Jean, 32, the 2004 Olympic Team coach.
If all three Lopez siblings make the 2008 Team it will be just the second time ever for three siblings to make the U.S. Olympic Team in the same summer sport for the same Olympic Games. The only other time that happened was in 1904 when Edward, Richard and William Tritschler competed for the U.S. gymnastics team. None won a medal.
Nia Abdallah: 2004 Silver Medalist Balances Motherhood and Taekwondo
In 2004, Nia Abdallah of Houston, Texas, was one of the pleasant surprises of the Athens Olympic Games. At just 20 years of age, Abdallah capped a remarkable Olympic journey and put her name in the history books when she won the silver medal in the women's Olympic featherweight division (under 57 kg). Abdallah’s rise to the Olympic podium was even more remarkable when you consider that the 2004 Olympic Games was her first major international competition at the worldwide level. Prior to the 2004 Olympic Games, Abdallah's biggest tournaments had been the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where she won the
bronze medal, and the 2004 Pan American Regional Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico City, Mexico, where she qualified the U.S. for the 2004 Olympic Games in her weight class.
En route to the Olympic silver medal, Addallah defeated Margarita Mkrtchyan of Russia (16-9), Cristiana Corsi of Italy (3-2), and Thailand's Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen (8-7) before falling to Korea's Jang Ji Won (4-1 Korea with 2 penalty points) in the gold medal match.
With her performance, Abdallah made history by becoming the first American female to ever win an official Olympic medal in the sport of Taekwondo.
In 2005, Abdallah made the U.S. National Team and competed at the World Championships in Madrid, Spain. Late in 2005, she gave birth to daughter Lela but came back on Feb. 16 of this year to earn a spot on the 2006 U.S. Senior National Team in the lightweight division.
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