SUCCESS FOR TAEKWONDO ATHLETES AT 2024 OCEANIA OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT
The 2024 Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament was held at the National Aquatics Centre in Honiara, Solomon Islands on April 6, 2024. Athletes from nine countries within the Oceania region were competing for eight quota spots to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and four Taekwondo New Zealand (TNZ) athletes had their sights set on the podium.
One the countries present at the event was Australia, a perennial Taekwondo powerhouse that undoubtedly made the challenge for success difficult, but for the two females and two males selected by Taekwondo New Zealand to compete at the event, this was a challenge they were more than willing to accept.
Adversity has always been something that Taekwondo New Zealand has had to deal with over the years, from internal political issues and athlete disputes, to the current struggle to gain approval for membership to the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC), so this was not going to be any different from the athletes’ perspective.
Taekwondo New Zealand President Grandmaster Jin Keun Oh said, “This is an amazing group of athletes that have worked hard against all of the odds to not only attend this event, but to compete with pride in representing New Zealand and the silver fern and that’s what makes me proud to be part of their success”.
Two of the athletes won their respective divisions and in doing so gained the coveted ‘ticket’ to the Olympics which can now accompany their request to NZOC to be part of the New Zealand Olympic team to attend the Paris Olympic games in July.
However, the journey for these two athletes is not going to be an easy one. For two years, TNZ has been in discussions with NZOC regarding the reinstatement of their membership to the Olympic body and despite TNZ being recognised by their international body, World Taekwondo (WT), the path to NZOC membership reinstatement has been slow.
“This has been a long process for both parties and one that the TNZ board are adamant will be achieved and we will continue to provide the necessary evidence requested by NZOC to support our application for membership. This is about our athletes’ dreams and goals and we will do all we can to support them”, said Oh.
For the time being, the TNZ efforts to support their athletes must remain on the sideline as NZOC will not accept any submissions from TNZ as a non-member of NZOC on behalf of their athletes. Having only received confirmation from NZOC late last year that TNZ submissions to the Paris Olympics would not be accepted, the TNZ coaching and management team rallied to support the athletes in their quest for success at the Oceania Olympic Qualifier.
“There is a huge amount of courage and respect given to a team that perseveres toward such a formidable task, knowing that even if they win, the desired outcome may still not be attained. This is the epitome of focusing on the opportunity when the outcome is never guaranteed and you can’t write a better script than that”, said Oh.
The Taekwondo community will celebrate the success for the two Taekwondo New Zealand athletes, but they will be under no illusions that their toughest fight may still be ahead.
ENDS
For enquiries relating to this media release, please contact Natasha Swainson, Taekwondo New Zealand Communications Lead, at comms@newzealandtaekwondo.co.nz
