Two of Canada’s top athletes — Karine Sergerie and Jocelyn Addison — are fighting for their final chance to attend the 2008 Olympics. They arrived in Columbia yesterday for the international tournament, and will be on their way to Beijing this summer if they qualify within their division.

Fact: Jocelyn Addison rarely touches the ground.

Sergerie and Addison narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics at September’s Manchester Qualification Event. At the same tournament, Ivett Gonda (BC) and Sebastién Michaud (QC) managed to qualified in their respective divisions. According to the IOC selection rules, the Pan American Qualification Event in Columbia is Canada’s…

An important note to athletes and coaches:

The 2008 Senior National Championships have been removed from Manitoba and awarded to Quebec. The event will now be held in Montreal on March 8-9, 2008. – Taekwondo Canada

» Taekwondo Canada

Since Taekwondo made its Olympic debut in 1988, it’s been the dream of Canadian players to win that coveted gold medal. And it wasn’t because of the money, because there was none — until now that is.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced today that Canadian athletes who win gold in Taekwondo or any other sport will receive $20,000 for their efforts. Silver wins $15,000 while bronze gets you $10,000. Better still, in non-Olympic years any Canadian player who places in the top 4 or 5 at that year’s highest competition will receive $5000.

Other countries have been doing this for…

It was a day at the beach for some of Canada’s Junior WTF Taekwondo Team. Twenty of the top 14-to-17 year-old players fought at the Junior Pan Ams in Daytona Beach last week, and fourteen of them came back with impressive souvenirs:

Canadian Junior Team: Athletes, Officials, and International Referees

Medaling in the Junior…

Canada’s wildest hopes were realized Sunday when Sebatién Michaud from Quebec placed first at the Olympic Qualifier in Manchester, England.

Canada’s Sebastien Michaud (red) against Puerto Rico’s Juan Sanchez

The odds were against him when he drew the Middleweight World Champion (Bahri Tanrikulu from Turkey) as his first match. Michaud took the match to sudden death (2-2), where after no points scored, he was awarded the match by judges’ decision (superiority). He followed that performance by taking out Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Puerto Rico, landing him in the finals against Olympic Gold Medalist Steven Lopez (USA). But already having qualified his spot,…

In the first day of the Olympic Qualifer, British Columbia’s Ivett Gonda earns her spot in the Beijing Olympics.

After defeating both the U.K. and Israel by a whopping 7-point spread, she lost a tight match against Cuba. After re-focusing with coach Shin Wook Lim she faced Brigutte Yague, the current World Champion from Spain, who had beat Gonda in their last encounter at the 2007 World Championships. Taking an early lead on Yague, Gonda received kyong-go (warning penalty) for holding, leaving her with a very narrow 1-0 advantage. In the end her preparation paid-off with a 2-0 win, securing her…

The Canadian Team in Manchester. Nice jackets. (Photo by Dr. Terry DeFreitas)

The road to Beijing is a long one, but four of Canada’s Taekwondo athletes are well on their way. Jocelyn Addison, Ivett Gonda, Sebastién Michaud, and Karine Sergerie (pictured below) arrived in Manchester England and are set for one of the most important battles of their careers.

The Manchester Qualifier is one of five continental qualification games for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. If they win (place in the top three in their division), they secure Canada a spot for that division at the Olympics. If they fail, they could end…

Photos by Champion Photos

When was the last time you enjoyed a good martial arts show? Canadians have so far been out of luck for well-rounded, family-friendly (language and violence) live martial entertainment. Out of that void was born the Open Black Belt World Championships (OBBWC) which kicked-off August 18 in Toronto.

Fans get autographed stuff during intermission

The capoeira team had the crowd stomping to the beat

This lady was totally scary. She has a tiny knife!

The two-day show had pretty much everything you could hope for: lively demonstrations (capoeira, dragon dance, “Afrikan” martial arts), tournament sparring (WTF Taekwondo, kung-fu, karate, kickboxing), and…

It’s the top event for university students around the globe, and the largest multi-sport competition after the Olympics. Taekwondo is a big event at the biennial Universiade (World University Games), and just because they’re university students doesn’t mean the competition isn’t world class.

While the Canadian team never saw podium, the competitors were first to admit this event is more about gaining experience than winning medals. Reggie Lawrence is a Newfoundland fighter who could become a deadly force by adding serious experience to…