Matthew Francis Beach (born 22 December 1977 in
Guildford,
Surrey,
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
) is a New Zealand
taekwondo
''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...
practitioner of British origin. Beach qualified for the
men's heavyweight division (+80 kg) at the
2008 Summer Olympics in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, after winning the
Oceanian Qualification Tournament in
Nouméa
Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and ...
,
New Caledonia. He lost the preliminary round of sixteen match to China's
Liu Xiaobo, with a score of 1–4.
Beach currently resides in
Bogota, Colombia, where he is employed by the British Embassy as an immigration officer.
References
External links
*
Profile – NZ Olympic Team
New Zealand male taekwondo practitioners
1977 births
Living people
Olympic taekwondo practitioners of New Zealand
Taekwondo practitioners at the 2008 Summer Olympics
English emigrants to New Zealand
Sportspeople from Guildford
{{taekwondo-bio-stub