This weekend Taekwondo Canada completed its 2023 Pre-Qualification Tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The event, held at Variety Village in Scarborough, Ontario, saw 19 Senior Kyorugi athletes compete in eligible Olympic weight classes for the opportunity to be considered in the evaluation process for Canada.

There were no surprises in the men's tournament. National team members Jordan Stewart from Toronto and Marc-André Bergeron from Quebec City were the strongest athletes respectively in the 80 and +80 kg weight category. Hervan Nkogho Mengue from Quebec was crowned a champion in the 68 kg weight category and Braven Park from Winnipeg defeated all his rivals in the 58 kg weight category.

Some young names were in the women’s competition. World junior vice-champion 22 years old Josipa Kafadar from Burnaby earned her place in the team in the 49 kg weight category, 20 years old Leonarda Andric from Ottawa was strongest in 67 kg weight category and finally Rachel Fountain was able to claim the gold medal in the +67 kg weight category.

“Any event related to Olympic qualification is always going to be special. The standards are harder to get in, and then pressure is greater on the athletes and coaches to perform. We were able to see some incredible performances from the top taekwondo athletes in Canada, and the results show a strong potential for the winners to go on and qualify for Paris at the Continental Qualification tournament in the spring”, Taekwondo Canada’s High Performance Director Allan Wrigley said of the event.

Now these seven athletes will try to gain their place in Paris 2024 through the Continental Olympic qualification tournament which will be held in April of 2024.