Paige Arielle "McFierce" McPherson (born October 1, 1990, in

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...

) is an Olympic

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

competitor from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Biography

Early life and education

McPherson grew up in

Sturgis, South Dakota Sturgis is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 7,020 as of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Meade County and is named after Samuel D. Sturgis, a Union general during the Civil War. Sturgis is notable ...

. She and four other siblings were adopted by Susan and Dave McPherson. Her biological family includes an older brother and two half-siblings. She is of African American and Filipino descent. She graduated from Black Hills Classical Christian Academy in 2009 and then went on to attend

Miami-Dade College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College ...

Career

McPherson was a silver medalist at the

2011 Pan Am Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán ...

. She represented the USA at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in the women’s 67 kg taekwondo event and in the preliminary round secured a surprise defeat over

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

Sarah Stevenson Sarah Diana Stevenson, MBE (born 30 March 1983) is a British taekwondo athlete. A world champion in 2001, Stevenson won her country's first ever Olympic medal in taekwondo, a bronze, at the 2008 Games in Beijing, her third Oly ...

. McPherson went on to win a bronze medal by defeating

Franka Anić Franka Anić (born 5 February 1991 in Split, Croatia) is a Slovenian-Croatian taekwondo athlete. Anić lives in Korčula, Croatia, but competes internationally for Slovenia. Anić qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 67 kg catego ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, 8-3. After winning a gold medal in the 2016 Pan American Games McPherson was selected to represent the United States as a member of the Team USA Taekwondo Team in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio, Brazil. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she lost her first match against

Farida Azizova Farida Azizova (born 6 June 1995 in Qusar, Azerbaijan) is an Azerbaijani taekwondo practitioner. She competed in the 67 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and was eliminated by Karine Sergerie in the preliminary round. She also ...

. She has qualified to represent the United States at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

References

External links