| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Anju Jason | ||||||||||||||
| Born | November 21, 1987 Marshall Islands | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 80 kg (180 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country |  Marshall Islands | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Taekwondo | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Anju Jason (born November 21, 1987) is a Marshallese taekwondo practitioner who competed in the men's welterweight event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he was defeated in the first round. He was also the nation's flag bearer during the closing ceremony.
Anju Jason was born on November 21, 1987 in the Marshall Islands. [1] At the age of six, he moved to Oahu and lived with his sister as their father thought the island would provide better opportunities in education and a better quality of life for his children. When Anju was nine years old, he saw a flier advertising a taekwondo academy and eventually joined the academy. He went on and win multiple local and state-wide taekwondo tournaments but did not have the chance to represent the United States internationally as he was not a citizen of the nation. [2]
In November 2007 after competing in a tournament in Oklahoma, Jason received a call from his instructor and told him they stated that the Marshall Islands were setting up a team for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, for the nation's first appearance at an Olympic Games. He competed in the Oceania Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament held in New Caledonia and defeated a competitor from Samoa, qualifying for the Summer Games as the first eligible Marshallese competitor. He was the only one in the team to have qualified without being a wild card entry. Before the Summer Games, he was a cook for Panda Express and was paid throughout the duration of his stay at the Summer Games. [2]
At the Summer Games, he competed in the preliminary rounds of the men's welterweight event on 22 August at 11:15 am. He competed against Aaron Cook of Great Britain and lost the event with a score of seven to one. [3] Jason was eventually designated as the flag bearer for the nation during the closing ceremony of the Summer Games. [1] He had stated that he planned to visit the nation after the Summer Games for the first time since 2005. [2]
