Twenty proud Taekwondo athletes fought their way onto the National Team earlier this week in Calgary, Alberta. The Junior Team (A division—14-17 years old) will represent Canada at the Junior World Championships next month in Turkey.

Spectators and athletes were delighted at the chance to meet Canada's Olympic Taekwondo Team: Ivett Gonda, Sebastien Michaud, and Karine Sergerie. The trio were flown in by the tournament hosts to inspire and motivate the young competitors.

Opening ceremony: Grandmaster Kee Ha (Taekwondo Canada President) presents the Canadian Olympic Team: Karine Sergerie, Ivett Gonda, and Sebastien Michaud.

The Kees Canada Cup held before the national competition gave students of all ages the chance to compete in full-size rings, and with the benefit of National Referees. Aside from the traditional sparring (kyorugi) and patterns (poomsae) competitions, various breaking competitions (kyokpa) were also held. Older students pitted their strongest kicks against one another in the power breaking competition, while younger students could perform jumping high kick (height) and flying side kick (distance). For fairness as well as environmental concerns, all breaking was conducted with re-breakable boards.

» Event Photos

» Full results (Taekwondo Canada)

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It's time again for Canada's top senior Taekwondo black belts to battle one another for the prized spots on the national podium. And again this year it's being hosted at Montreal's Centre Claude Robillard, an excellent venue with ample seating. As always this is a two-day event, spanning March 8-9.

The fights have been posted (see links below) and include many exciting, as well as unusual matches. Several experienced fighters have switched weight categories, possibly to avoid—and in some cases to target—the strongest players.

While most athletes have spent months training for this event, some have had bigger concerns. Canada's Olympic hopefuls—Karine Sergerie, Ivett Gonda, and Sebastien Michaud—have just returned from the Olympic Test Event in Beijing, an invitational event designed to prepare both athletes and organizers for the real deal this August.

Taekwondo fans across Canada (not to mention the athletes themselves) should be very excited about the results, which certainly make Canada's prospects for Olympic medals look all the better.

Gonda finished with bronze by fighting two matches before losing to China. Michaud also placed third after losing his fourth fight 2-1 to Turkey (watch video: Sebastien Michaud defeats Juan Sanchez of Puerto Rico). Sergerie, the 2007 World Taekwondo Champion, fought her way through four matches to beat China 1-0 and take the gold (watch video: Karine Sergerie beats China's Hui Ji in the final).

Some competitors at the upcoming National Championships may be relieved to know that none of the fore-mentioned athletes are scheduled to compete this weekend. The trio are no doubt taking time to recover from jet lag and the physical effects of international competition, including the weeks of intense training preceding it.

» 2008 Senior Nationals information (PDF)

» 2008 Nationals draws: Fin, Bantam, Light, Middle

» 2008 Nationals draws: Fly, Feather, Welter, Heavy

» Taekwondo Olympic Test Event: Canadian results

» Taekwondo Olympic Test Event: full results

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Karine Sergerie, who just seven months ago became Canada's first World Taekwondo Champion, will now very likely be an Olympian too. Her and fellow Quebecer Jocelyn Addison are returning from the Pan American Qualifier in Columbia, where participating nations battled to send their players to the Beijing Olympics.

Team Doctor Terry DeFreitas recaps Sergerie's fights:

Karine Sergerie faced Andrea Bedard representing Grenada in her first match. Ultimately Karine was victorious. Her next match was against Puerto Rico, Karine came through to clinch a spot for Canada at the Olympics. Winning the semi final gave Karine an Olympic spot but the day was not over — there was a final match to complete. In the final she met up with Argentina. For this match it was almost impossible to get 3 judges to agree on the points at the same time. The Argentina competitor came out on top this day.

Addison came tragically close to qualifying. Beating his first two opponents, he lost to Brazil in the semi-finals, setting him up for a bronze-medal match with Dominican Republic's Gabriel Mercedes. It was a tough 1-0 loss for Addison.

Now Canada joins the other 8 nations that will be sending three out of the maximum four Taekwondo athletes to Beijing. Only five countries are sending a full set: Australia, Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, the U.S., and Venezuela.

The next stage is the Team Trials in Regina, where the player to fill the -67kg division (which Sergerie just qualified) at the Olympics will be chosen. Alternate athletes in case of sickness or injury will also be chosen for the other two qualified divisions.

» Global TKD qualification statistics

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