Catherine Seulki Kang (born 25 September 1987) is a

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

n-born naturalized Central African

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. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's 49 kg event. On 8 August, she was defeated in the preliminary round against

Lucija Zaninović Lucija Zaninović (born 26 June 1987, in Split) is a Croatian taekwondo practitioner. She is the twin sister of taekwondo practitioner Ana Zaninović. Zaninović won the gold medal in the women's flyweight class at the 2010 European Taekwondo C ...

of Croatia.

Personal life

Kang was born in

Gunsan Gunsan (), also romanized as Kunsan, is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is on the south bank of the Geum River just upstream from its exit into the Yellow Sea. It has emerged as a high-tech manufacturing industrial city and an i ...

Jeonbuk North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwest ...

province and resides at

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

in South Korea. She graduated from Gyeonggi Science High School and

Woosuk University Woosuk University (WU; Hangul:우석대학교, Hanja: 又石大學校, RR:Wo''osuk Daehakgyo)'' is a private university located in Wanju gun, North Jeolla Province and Jincheon gun, North Chungcheong Province, Republic of Korea. Notable alumni * C ...

Career

While working as Taekwondo instructor in Belgium, Kang decided to switch nationality in 2010 to

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

to try to qualify for the

2012 Summer Olympic Games 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 2012, Kang become the first taekwondo athlete to win a medal while representing Central African Republic in an international event. She won the bronze medal in the WU Taekwondo Championship 2012 which was held in her native country South Korea at

Pocheon Pocheon () is an inland city in the far northeastern region of Gyeonggi province in South Korea. It covers 2 with a population of 160,176 people, according to the 2008 census. Pocheon lies between Seoul and the mountainous northwestern areas of G ...

. Kang also works as a Taekwondo coach for the Antioquia team competing in La Liga Antioqueña de Taekwondo at Medellín, Colomba.

References

External links

* 1987 births Living people People from Gunsan Sportspeople from North Jeolla Province Sportspeople from Busan South Korean Christians South Korean female taekwondo practitioners Central African Republic female taekwondo practitioners Taekwondo practitioners at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic taekwondo practitioners of the Central African Republic Naturalized citizens of Central African Republic South Korean expatriates in Colombia {{CentralAfricanRepublic-taekwondo-bio-stub