Two taekwondo athletes named to Canada's Paris 2024 Olympic team
They are the first athletes named to Team Canada ahead of this summer's games.
Skylar Park of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Josipa Kafadar of Burnaby, British Columbia were the first athletes named to the Canadian Olympic team for Paris 2024 on Tuesday, both in the sport of taekwondo.
Kafadar, 23, will be making her Olympic debut this summer, while Park, 24, will be going to her second Olympic Games after reaching the quarterfinals at Tokyo 2020, before losing to eventual bronze medallist Lo Chia-ling of Chinese Taipei.
Competing in the -57kg category, Park is the reigning Pan American Games champion, winning the gold medal at Santiago 2023 last October to add to her 2019 Pan Am silver medal in the same event. In 2023 she won several other events, including the first gold medal of her World Taekwondo Grand Prix career, earlier in October in Taiyuan, China.
Park qualified for Paris 2024 by finishing third in the World Taekwondo Olympic Ranking for the -57kg event at the end of 2023. She is also a former World Taekwondo Junior Championships winner, taking the 2016 crown on Canadian soil, in Burnaby, B.C.
“Having the honour of representing Canada on any stage is always a huge honour, but to have the opportunity to represent your country on the biggest sporting stage in the world is so special,” said Park in a press release. “My team and I are extremely proud and grateful to have qualified for our second Olympic Games. I cannot wait to fight for the top of the Olympic podium this summer in Paris!”
Park will be joined in Paris by her father and one of her brothers, with Jae Park and Tae-Ku Park serving as her coach and training partner, respectively. Skylar, Tae-Ku, and their other brother Braven Park all competed at Santiago 2023 in taekwondo, which father Jae described at the time as “a dream come true”.
Kafadar qualified for the Olympics earlier this month, thanks to a top two finish in the women’s -49kg event at the Pan American Qualification Tournament in Dominican Republic.
She won bronze medals at the Canada and US Opens earlier in 2024 after winning gold at the Luxembourg and British Opens in 2023, and was a silver medallist at the 2018 World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Hammamet, Tunisia.
Kafadar is coached by Daniel Thornton, and her training partner in Paris will be Shane Britton.
“Making the Canadian Olympic team has always been one of my biggest dreams,” said Kafadar in a press release. “I’ve wanted it for as long as I can remember. The idea of representing my country at such a huge event makes me feel incredibly proud and motivated. Now my Olympic dream will become reality at Paris 2024.”
Taekwondo will take place from August 7 to 10 in Paris, days 12 to 15 of the Olympics, at the Grand Palais. Kafadar will compete on August 7 in the women’s -49kg event, while Park will compete the next day in the women’s -57kg.
“The Olympic qualification process for taekwondo is incredibly difficult, and the fact that we have earned quota spots through both Olympic Ranking and the Continental Qualification Tournament highlights Skylar’s ongoing consistency on the world stage and Josipa’s ability to perform on demand,” said Dr. Allan Wrigley, High Performance Director of Taekwondo Canada, in a press release.
“Coach Jae and Coach Dan have done an exceptional job to get both athletes into these positions, and are well on their way towards preparing them for their Olympic dream of standing on the podium and representing Canada in Paris.”
Taekwondo has been on the Olympic programme since Sydney 2000, and Canada has won two medals in the sport — Dominique Bosshart’s bronze medal in the women’s +67kg event in Sydney, and Karine Sergerie’s silver in the women’s -67kg event at Beijing 2008.
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