MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(born 30 March 1983) is a British
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 ...
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 Olympic competition for Great Britain. Controversially eliminated before the medal rounds, she was reinstated following appeal and went on to win the bronze medal final.
Stevenson again became world champion in 2011, despite the loss of both her parents to cancer in the preceding year.
Stevenson was selected for her home games in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 2012, where she took the Olympic oath at the
opening ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.
on behalf of all the athletes. Her injury-truncated build up to the Games led to an early elimination; she had taken silver at the Olympic qualifiers despite suffering a
broken hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...
.
In 2013, Stevenson announced her retirement from competition, and her intention to take up a coaching role in the Great Britain team.
Early life
Stevenson was born in
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
Stevenson started her career by becoming Junior World Champion in 1998. In 2000, she won the 3rd place in
taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Taekwondo was contested as an official sport at the Olympic Games for the first time at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. It had previously been a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992. Medals were awarded in four weight classes each for me ...
's World Qualification Tournament and qualified for the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
in Women's 67 kg. These achievements won her fame and drew the attention of martial arts superstar
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
who sponsored her while promoting his film ''
Shanghai Noon
''Shanghai Noon'' is a 2000 martial arts western action comedy film starring Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu. The first in the ''Shanghai'' film series and marking the directorial debut of Tom Dey, ''Shanghai Noon'' was written by Alfred ...
'' in the United Kingdom. But in the 2000 Olympics she lost to Norway's
Trude Gundersen
Trude Gundersen (born 6 June 1977 in Bergen) is a retired Norwegian taekwondo athlete. She was Norway's first and only taekwondo competitor during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and won a silver medal in the -67 kg weight class.
in the semifinal and Japan's
Yoriko Okamoto
is the first Japanese athlete to become an Olympic taekwondo medalist, winning the bronze medal at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics in the 57–67 kg weight class.2001 World Taekwondo Championships's Women's Middleweight, defeating 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong (; born November 22, 1982) is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. She won China's first Olympic gold med ...
in the final. She became the first British Taekwondo World champion.
At the
2004 Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
in the Women's +67 kg event she was eliminated by
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
's
Adriana Carmona
Adriana Carmona (born December 3, 1972 in Puerto La Cruz) is a Venezuelan taekwondo practitioner and Olympic medalist.
Olympic Games
She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she received a bronze medal in the +67 kg class ...
in the first round. She later trained at
Sportcity
Sportcity in Manchester is a multipurpose sports and leisure facility. Originally built to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, it is in east Manchester, a mile from Manchester city centre, and was developed on former industrial land including th ...
in Manchester and is a member of the Allstars Taekwondo Academy in Doncaster. coached by Master Gary Sykes
2008 Olympics
Due to an "error" in judging, Stevenson almost exited the 2008 Olympics in the quarterfinal stage following her match with China's
Chen Zhong
Chen Zhong (; born November 22, 1982) is a retired Chinese taekwondo competitor who represented her country at international level for more than 10 years, including three consecutive Summer Olympic Games. She won China's first Olympic gold med ...
, the gold medal favourite. In the final round of the match, the judges failed to award Stevenson two points for a high-kick to the head, which would have put her one point in the lead with 10 seconds remaining. Following the match, the British team representative immediately made an official protest and, after studying video footage of the kick the judges reversed the result of the fight and Stevenson progressed to the semifinal. Stevensons's semifinal opponent was María del Rosario Espinoza of Mexico, and she lost 4–1, also sustaining a twisted ankle. She then went on to compete for bronze in the repechage, defeating Noha Abd Rabo of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and winning Britain's first Olympic medal in the sport of taekwondo.
On announcing the change of result in the quarter final, the tournament director said:
As a result of this judging error in particular, emphasis may be switching to having electronic scoring equipment contained within the actual body protectors themselves, and many tournaments are now using these in trial phase. However, since this technology is far from refined, and due to tactical differences needed in gameplay and style, Stevenson, and athletes from other National Teams, currently do not favour this system and often boycott such tournaments.
2012 Olympics
At the opening ceremony of the
London 2012 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 ...
, Sarah Stevenson was chosen to take the Competitors oath. She lost to American
Paige McPherson
Paige Arielle "McFierce" McPherson (born October 1, 1990, in Abilene, Texas) is an Olympic taekwondo competitor from the United States.
Biography
Early life and education
McPherson grew up in Sturgis, South Dakota. She and four other sibl ...
in the preliminary round.
Career highlights
*2011 World Taekwondo Championships: Gold
*2010 European Championships: Gold
*2009 British Open International: Gold
*2008 Summer Olympics: Bronze
*2006 Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships: Gold
*2005 World Taekwondo Championships: Silver
*2005 European Championships: Gold
*2004 European Championships: Gold
*2004 Summer Olympics: 15th
*2001 World Taekwondo Championships: Gold
*2000 Summer Olympics: 4th
*1998 European Championships: Gold
Personal life
Stevenson was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to martial arts.
In January 2014 Stevenson was made a
Freeman
Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to:
* a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm
* Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies
* Free ...
of her home town of
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...