Taekwondo Champions From Madison Earn Medals

MADISON– Two of the most revered experts in martial arts among the residents of Madison have performed to championship levels at two recent national taekwondo competitions.

Jewoong Jeong earned first place in the senior male individual poomsae at the National USA Taekwondo Championships held in Minneapolis, Minn. and earned a spot on the USA National Taekwondo Poomsae Team and will compete at the 2019 World Cup Poomsae Championships scheduled for Aug. 22-23 in Wuxi, China.

Jewoong’s sister, Yewon, a rising freshman at Bob Jones High, took first place in pair poomsae with her partner David Lee of Atlanta, Ga. At the PanAM Taekwondo Championships held in Portland, Ore. she placed third in the individual poomsae event and also placed second in pair poomsae, third in team poomsae and fifth in individual poomsae at the national competition in Minneapolis.

“Both Yewon and I, as well as, the rest of our family received our National USA Citizenship earlier this year and that’s how we were able to compete in the USA Nationals,” said Jewoong, 21. “It was a long seven years we waited to be able to do so and I was very nervous, but excited to be able to represent the country in competition.”

“I, too, was representing the United States for the first time and I was very nervous,” added Yewon, 15. “I could have done better in the individual competitions, but I was nervous and didn’t seem to have the correct energy level. My presentation was not my best.”

Poomsae (pronounced poom-zee) is a form or pattern of defense and attack motions and moves.

The Jeong family of Madison own and operate Jeong’s Yong-In Taekwondo in Madison. The family is led by Sangok and his wife, Aekyung Lee, along with their children, Jewoong, Yerim, Yudam and Yewon.

“I was anxious to see how I stood with others from across the nation and when I first arrived I made sure my mindset was to perform my best as my whole focus became to do my best to win,” said Jewoong, who is studying digital marketing at UAH and will be a junior this fall. “That mindset helped me perform better as I actually wasn’t expecting to win.”

Jewoong said he feels more like a champion and is excited to hold up to the title once he arrives in China. He added, “I feel humbled to be a champion and I am very grateful for the opportunity. I thank my family for all of the support as I couldn’t have done this without them.”

For Yewon, having a great partner in Lee really made her trip to the City of Roses a successful one. This was the first time they’ve been able to perform together on a national level as Yewon would travel to Atlanta every other week for almost the last year to practice. For one week at a time Yewon and David would practice their performances eight hours a day.

“David is 16 years old and worked very hard to get to the PanAm competition we’re both very honored to represent the USA,” said Yewon. “I feel positive pressure when I was there and that motivated me to do well. I traveled to Portland with my sister, brother and my father and we were there almost an entire week. I’m grateful to have experienced the competition at this important event.”