 |
Michael J. O'Malley (born in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American Taekwondo athlete and instructor.
O'Malley competed in Taekwondo from 1976 through 1982. He was chosen for the USA Taekwondo teams from 1978 through 1982. [1] He was elected US Team Captain in 1980 and US Team Coach in 1984.
O'Malley was inducted into the Tae Kwon Do Hall of Fame in 2011. [2]
O'Malley set up the M.J. O'Malley Tae Kwon Do Center in Peabody, MA in early 2011. [3]
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving punching and kicking techniques. The word Taekwondo can be translated as tae, kwon, and do. In addition to its five tenets of courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit, the sport requires three physical skills: poomsae (품새), kyorugi (겨루기) and gyeokpa (격파).
Dae Sung Lee is a Korean-American master of taekwondo who holds the rank of 7th dan. Lee is a 10-time US national taekwondo team member and two-time Olympic coach. He served as taekwondo coach for the US Summer Olympic team in 1992.
Mike McCallum is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1997. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988, the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.
Tracy Anne Stockwell, OAM,, née Tracy Anne Caulkins, is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events.
USA Taekwondo (USAT) is the national governing body (NGB) of Taekwondo for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and thus the United States' official Member National Association of World Taekwondo USAT has complete authority over all decisions regarding US national junior and senior team selections for World Taekwondo events, including the Summer Olympic Games Taekwondo competition event.
Park Dong-keun, also known as D. K. Park, is a South Korean Grandmaster of taekwondo. He holds the title "Grandmaster," the rank of 9th dan in taekwondo, and was Korea's only undefeated taekwondo fighter in more than 200 International championship competition. Park introduced the martial art of taekwondo to Thailand in 1966, before settling in the United States of America, and was the taekwondo coach of both the US National Team and the US Olympic Team.
Kyongwon Ahn, 9th dan (Kukkiwon), is a South Korean taekwondo master who founded the United Taekwondo Association (UTA) in the United States.
Clinton Jackson is an American former professional boxer. As an amateur, he competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics. He also won a silver medal at the 1974 World Championships and a gold at the 1975 Pan American Games.
Tae-hong Choi was a grandmaster in taekwondo, winner of multiple martial arts titles and a teacher of thousands of students in Oregon.
Kimberly Ann Linehan is an American former competition swimmer for the University of Texas, a 1982 World Aquatics champion, a 1984 Olympic competitor in the 400-meter freestyle, and a former world record-holder in the 400 and 1500-meter freestyle events. For a period in the late 1970's she was considered by many to be the top distance freestyler in the world.
Arlene Limas is an American taekwondo practitioner and multiple international gold medalist of Mexican and Polish descent.
Jill Ann Sterkel is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and water polo player. Sterkel won four medals in three Olympic Games spanning twelve years from 1976 through 1988. She was the women's head coach of the Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team at the University of Texas at Austin from 1993 to 2006.
Hadi Saei is an Iranian councilor and former taekwondo athlete who became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history and the most titled champion in this sport by winning 9 world class titles . Earlier in his career and in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Saei had won the Bronze medal. He was elected as member of City Council of Tehran in 2006 local elections and was reelected in 2013 but lost the 2017 election. He is one of the three most medal winners olympians in the sport of Taekwondo.
Demetrius Havanas, known as 'The Golden Greek', was a third degree karate black belt and kickboxer. He won more than 90 consecutive tournaments in forms and fighting competition, and won 13 grand championships in 1971. He was ranked in the top ten of American Karate fighters between 1971 and 1975.
Dana Hee is an American martial artist, stuntwoman, action film actress and model, who has also worked as sports color commentator, trainer, spokesperson, motivational speaker and master of ceremonies, as well as a rancher. She was a gold medalist at 1988 Summer Olympics in taekwondo.
Natalie Hershberger is an American taekwondo athlete and author of Kick it Fit with Natalie and Tough Girls Finish First. Beginning in 2016, Hershberger wrote a regular column featured in the Tae Kwon Do Times known as "Kickchat with Nat", focused on taekwondo training.
Dong Ja Yang is the former chairman of the AAU National Taekwondo Union from 1979-84. From 1984-88, He was a member of the Executive Board of the United States Olympic Committee. Earning a Ph.D. in counseling psychology, Yang introduced taekwondo to 77 colleges in the U.S. from 1977-83. During these years, he was essential in helping raise taekwondo to Olympic status. He taught Taekwondo for 40 years at Howard University. In 1986, Yang asked WTF President Kim Un-Yong to lower the black belt fee for taekwondo, which resulted in Yang's removal from the WTF Pan American Taekwondo Union. In 1988, three of his students earned medals in the Seoul Summer Olympics: Lynnette Love, Debra Holloway and Sharon Jewell. He received an award from Congressman Ralph Metcalfe for his work in bringing women to taekwondo. He also hosted the Howard University Taekwondo Championships. In 2001, he filed a complaint against the United States Taekwondo Union. Yang was elected to the Taekwondo Hall of Fame and holds a 9th degree black belt.
Herbert J. "Herb" Perez is a former US Olympian in taekwondo and a politician. He was a gold medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Garth Cooley is a taekwondo Grandmaster and black belt.
Kristina Danielle Teachout is an American taekwondo athlete. She represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 67 kg contest.