Over the last few weeks the city of Copenhagen was witness to a historic Taekwondo event: the 2009 World Championships. The Canadian Team’s impressive performance resulted in three medals:
- Maxime Potvin (lightweight): Silver
- Yvette Yong (finweight): Bronze
- Sébastien Michaud (welterweight): Bronze
Maxime Potvin – Silver
Maxime dominated his first two matches until tying Venezuela 4-4, and winning by superiority. Then after a 15-14 win against Iran, Maxime beat Germany 6-3 in the semifinal. In the final match Maxime lost 2-5 to Korea’s Joon-tae Kim, who had won his semifinal against USA’s Mark Lopez.
Yvette Yong – Bronze
Yvette won her way through a series of tight matches against Greece, Iran, and Spain. She narrowly lost her quarterfinal match 2-3 against Zoraida Santiago of Puerto Rico. Yvette says this is the highest achievement in her taekwondo career so far, although other significant accomplishments include Gold at the 2006 and 2007 Junior Pan Am Championships, and Gold at the 2009 U.S. Open. Yvette explains her World Championship matches:
Up until the day of my fight, my injuries were still holding me back, but I was able to pull through with the help of our team doctor Kazemi, and I felt prepared for each match and knew exactly what I was supposed to do and focused on those specific techniques that I discussed with coach Bernier. Before my first match, I had never been so nervous in my life, but luckily I managed to finish in the first round and my nerves settled and each fight after that I felt more confident.
After I won the quarterfinals and was secured for the bronze, I was overwhelmed to make it this far, but coach Bernier kept me focused and ready for the next match. During the semi-finals, I was confident and relaxed, but somehow I let loose a bit and carelessly attacked a few time and I could hear and see out of the corner of my eye, coach Bernier telling me to stay calm and coach Jamie Dossantos in the stands and even Doctor Kazemi screaming out for me to stay focused, and that really helped me get back into my game.
In the end of my semi-finals, it came out to a 3-2 win for Puerto Rico. I went out of that ring giving everything I had and wasn’t disappointed. Only that I knew the next time I go into that ring, I’ll be even more prepared.
Sébastien Michaud – Bronze
After battling his way through Grenada, Greece, Armenia, and Italy, Sébastien faced-off against USA’s Steven Lopez in the semifinals. Although the extreme technical skills of each player were clear, a questionable three-point face kick in round two put Lopez in the lead 4-1. Michaud performed much better than his previous encounter with Lopez at the 2007 World Championships, where he also won bronze. Steven Lopez went on to beat Spain in the finals, making him history’s first five-time World Champion.
Team Rankings
Despite speculation that the South Korean team may have be weaker, Korea still managed to place first in the medal count (9 total, 5 gold) just ahead of Spain (with 7 total, 3 gold). Canada placed 12th overall — 7th for the male team, and 9th for the female team.
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