Sarah Stevenson
Encyclopedia
Sarah Diana Stevenson (born March 30, 1983, Doncaster
) is a British
Taekwondo
athlete from Bentley
near Doncaster
, England
.
Stevenson finished fourth on her Olympics debut in 2000 and after a judging error was reversed in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
, she went on to win a Bronze medal, the first British medalist at the Olympics in this sport. She took silver at the Olympic qualifiers despite suffering a broken hand.
in Scawthorpe, north Doncaster.
She started training Taekwondo at the age of 7.
's World Qualification Tournament and qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics
in Women's 67 kg
. These achievements won her fame and drew the attention of martial arts superstar Jackie Chan
who sponsored her while promoting his film Shanghai Noon
in the United Kingdom
. But in the 2000 Olympics she lost to Norway
's Trude Gundersen
in the semifinal and Japan
's Yoriko Okamoto
in the bronze match. The next year, she won the champion in the 2001 World Taekwondo Championships
's Women's Middleweight, defeating 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist Chen Zhong
in the final. She became the first British Taekwondo World champion.
At the 2004 Olympics
in the Women's +67 kg event she was elimimated by Venezuela
's Adriana Carmona
in the first round. She later trained at Sportcity
in Manchester and is a member of the Allstars Taekwondo Academy in Doncaster. coached by Master Gary Sykes
's Chen Zhong
, 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. Stevensons's semifinal opponent was Maria 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
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.
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
athlete from Bentley
Bentley, South Yorkshire
Bentley is a village in South Yorkshire, England two miles north of the town of Doncaster.The village was once owned by Edmund Hastings of Plumtree, Nottinghamshire, who had inherited it from his wife Copley's Sprotborough family...
near Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Stevenson finished fourth on her Olympics debut in 2000 and after a judging error was reversed in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, she went on to win a Bronze medal, the first British medalist at the Olympics in this sport. She took silver at the Olympic qualifiers despite suffering a broken hand.
Early life
She attended the Don Valley High SchoolDon Valley High School
Don Valley Academy is a mixed 11-18 comprehensive school located in Scawthorpe, Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The school also has a significant Sixth Form centre.-History:...
in Scawthorpe, north Doncaster.
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 OlympicsTaekwondo 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 men and women...
's World Qualification Tournament and qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
in Women's 67 kg
Taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics - Women's 67 kg
These are the results of the women's 67 kg ) competition in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. A total of 12 women competed in this event, limited to fighters whose body weight was less than 67 kilograms...
. These achievements won her fame and drew the attention of martial arts superstar Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
who sponsored her while promoting his film Shanghai Noon
Shanghai Noon
Shanghai Noon is a 2000 American martial arts action comedy western film starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. The film, marking the directorial debut of Tom Dey, was written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. But in the 2000 Olympics she lost to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's Trude Gundersen
Trude Gundersen
Trude Gundersen is a retired Norwegian taekwondo athlete. She was Norway's 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
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's Yoriko Okamoto
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....
in the bronze match. The next year, she won the champion in the 2001 World Taekwondo Championships
2001 World Taekwondo Championships
The 2001 World Taekwondo Championships were the 15th edition of the World Taekwondo Championships, and were held in Jeju, South Korea from November 1 to November 7, 2001.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:-Men:-Women:-References:*...
's Women's Middleweight, defeating 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. She won China's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and successfully defended...
in the final. She became the first British Taekwondo World champion.
At the 2004 Olympics
Taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's +67 kg
These are the results of the women's +67 kg competition in taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. A total of 15 women competed in this event, limited to fighters whose body weight was greater than 67 kilograms...
in the Women's +67 kg event she was elimimated by Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
's Adriana Carmona
Adriana Carmona
Adriana Carmona is a Venezuelan taekwondo practitioner and Olympic medalist.-Olympic Games:She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she received a bronze medal in the +67 kg class....
in the first round. She later trained at Sportcity
Sportcity
Sportcity Manchester is a sports district in the City of Manchester, and was used to host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. It is located in east Manchester, less than a mile away from Manchester city centre and was developed on former industrial land including the site of Bradford Colliery.The...
in Manchester and is a member of the Allstars Taekwondo Academy in Doncaster. coached by Master Gary Sykes
2008 Olympics
Due to an error in judging, Stevenson almost exited the 2008 Olympics in the quarterfinal stage following her match with ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
's Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. She won China's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and successfully defended...
, 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. Stevensons's semifinal opponent was Maria del Rosario Espinoza
María del Rosario Espinoza
María del Rosario Espinoza, is a Mexican taekwondo practitioner. Espinoza stands at 173 cm and weighs 69 kg....
of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, 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
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
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:
"The competition supervisory board has looked into this matter deeply, has made video analysis which has been open to all the referees and judges. In applying paragraph two of page 64 of the competition rules of the World Taekwondo Federation we have to change this result and we have to declare the British player as winner. We are very sorry to the spectators of China but justice is first. Thank you for understanding."
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.
Career highlights
- 2011 World Taekwondo Championships: Gold
- 2010 European Championships: Gold
- 2009 British Open International: Gold
- 2008 Summer Olympic Games: Bronze
- 2006 Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships: Gold
- 2005 World Taekwondo Championships: Silver
- 2005 European Championships: Gold
- 2004 European Championships: Gold
- 2004 Summer Olympics Games: 15th
- 2001 World Taekwondo Championships: Gold
- 2000 Summer Olympic Games: 4th
- 1998 European Championships: Gold