Sarah Diana Stevenson (born 30 March 1983) is a British
taekwondo
Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...
athlete.
A world champion in 2001, Stevenson won her country's first ever Olympic medal in taekwondo, a bronze, at the 2008 Games in Beijing, her third Olympic competition for Great Britain. Controversially eliminated before the medal rounds, she was reinstated following appeal and went on to win the bronze medal final.
Stevenson again became world champion in 2011, despite the loss of both her parents to cancer in the preceding year.
Stevenson was selected for her home games in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 2012, where she took the Olympic oath at the
opening ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.
on behalf of all the athletes. Her injury-truncated build up to the Games led to an early elimination; she had taken silver at the Olympic qualifiers despite suffering a
broken hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...
.
In 2013, Stevenson announced her retirement from competition, and her intention to take up a coaching role in the Great Britain team.
Early life
Stevenson was born in
Doncaster
Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
and attended the
Don Valley High School
Don Valley Academy (formerly Don Valley School and Performing Arts College) is a secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status located in Scawthorpe, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It has an enrolment of over 1,000 pupils ...
in
Scawthorpe
Scawthorpe is a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England on the A638 road. It is split between the city council wards of Roman Ridge and Bentley.
History
Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it was in the civil parish
...
. She started training taekwondo at the age of 7.
Career
Stevenson started her career by becoming Junior World Champion in 1998. In 2000, she won the 3rd place in
taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Taekwondo was contested as an official sport at the Olympic Games for the first time at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. It had previously been a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992. Medals were awarded in four weight classes each for me ...
's World Qualification Tournament and qualified for the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
in Women's 67 kg. These achievements won her fame and drew the attention of martial arts superstar
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan,; is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically perf ...
who sponsored her while promoting his film ''
Shanghai Noon
''Shanghai Noon'' is a 2000 martial arts western action comedy film directed by Tom Dey in his feature film debut, written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and starring Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu. It is the first entry in the ...
'' in the United Kingdom. But in the 2000 Olympics she lost to Norway's
Trude Gundersen
Trude Gundersen (born 6 June 1977 in Bergen) is a retired Norwegian taekwondo athlete. She was Norway's first and only taekwondo competitor during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and won a silver medal in the -67 kg weight class.
in the semifinal and Japan's
Yoriko Okamoto
is the first Japanese athlete to become an Olympic taekwondo medalist, winning the bronze medal at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics in the 57–67 kg weight class.2001 World Taekwondo Championships's Women's Middleweight, defeating 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong ( zh, s=陈中, t=陳中, p=Chén Zhōng; born November 22, 1982) is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. ...
in the final. She became the first British Taekwondo World champion.
At the
2004 Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece.
The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
in the Women's +67 kg event she was eliminated by
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
Sportcity
Sportcity in Manchester is a multipurpose sports and leisure facility. Originally built to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, it is in east Manchester, North West England, a mile from Manchester city centre, and was developed on former industri ...
in Manchester and is a member of the Allstars Taekwondo Academy in Doncaster. She was coached by Master Gary Sykes.
2008 Olympics
Due to an "error" in judging, Stevenson almost exited the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
in the quarterfinal stage following her match with China's
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong ( zh, s=陈中, t=陳中, p=Chén Zhōng; born November 22, 1982) is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. ...
, the gold medal favourite. In the final round of the match, the judges failed to award Stevenson two points for a high-kick to the head, which would have put her one point in the lead with 10 seconds remaining. Following the match, the British team representative immediately made an official protest and, after studying video footage of the kick the judges reversed the result of the fight and Stevenson progressed to the semifinal. Stevenson's semifinal opponent was María del Rosario Espinoza of Mexico, and she lost 4–1, also sustaining a twisted ankle. She then went on to compete for bronze in the repechage, defeating Noha Abd Rabo of
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and winning Britain's first Olympic medal in the sport of taekwondo.
On announcing the change of result in the quarter final, the tournament director said:
As a result of this judging error in particular, emphasis may be switching to having electronic scoring equipment contained within the actual body protectors themselves, and many tournaments are now using these in trial phase. However, since this technology is far from refined, and due to tactical differences needed in gameplay and style, Stevenson, and athletes from other National Teams, currently do not favour this system and often boycott such tournaments.
2012 Olympics
At the opening ceremony of the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, Sarah Stevenson was chosen to take the Competitors oath. She lost to American
Paige McPherson
Paige Arielle "McFierce" McPherson (born October 1, 1990, in Abilene, Texas) is an Olympic taekwondo competitor from the United States.
Biography
Early life and education
McPherson grew up in Sturgis, South Dakota. She and four other sibli ...
in the preliminary round.
Career highlights
*2011 World Taekwondo Championships: Gold
*2010 European Championships: Gold
*2009 British Open International: Gold
*2008 Summer Olympics: Bronze
*2006 Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships: Gold
*2005 World Taekwondo Championships: Silver
*2005 European Championships: Gold
*2004 European Championships: Gold
*2004 Summer Olympics: 15th
*2001 World Taekwondo Championships: Gold
*2000 Summer Olympics: 4th
*1998 European Championships: Gold
Personal life
Stevenson was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(MBE) in the
2012 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2012 were announced on 31 December 2011 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand,
In January 2014, Stevenson was made a
Freeman
Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to:
Places United States
* Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Freeman, South Dako ...
of her home town of
Doncaster
Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...