Some of the best amateur taekwondo athletes in the United States spent the last week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, competing at the AAU Taekwondo National Championship.
Competitors dressed in all-white uniforms followed the rules set by the Amateur Athletic Union Taekwondo Handbook and were judged on technique, power, focus, rhythm, grace and beauty.
Elena Kelley of Herndon, Virginia, is bringing home the national championship in the 33-42 female bracket in the traditional open forms in poomsae.
“(A) 41-year-old mom with two children, with a full-time job — not bad,” Kelley said.
What makes this achievement even more impressive is that Kelley has only been studying taekwondo for three years — she said she is proof that taekwondo is for everyone.
“If it inspires some women to start doing taekwondo, I will be very happy,” Kelley told WTOP.
In 2022, she and her then-six-year-old daughter Alexandra joined the family class at Grandmaster H.K. Lee Academy of TaeKwonDo in Herndon.
“During COVID, we would go in with our masks on,” Kelley said. “Now, it’s my No. 1 hobby.”
The mother and daughter earned their black belts together and still train three times a week.
Kelley said she was born in the Capital of Siberia, Russia, and that the 12 years she spent studying dance helped her with taekwondo.
“Absolutely coordination, flexibility and a desire to win,” Kelley said.
Since winning the national championship and scoring a 3rd place medal in sparring, Kelley has heard from a lot of friends.
“I got a lot of texts,” she said, including one from an older friend that read “When I grow up, I want to be you.”
When Kelley is not competing for championships, she works as program control analyst at the MIL Corporation.
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