Bronze medal triumph at European Championships in Bosnia puts Moray schoolgirl Adele Williamson on course for a place on the Team GB Taekwon-do Academy's senior development programme in Manchester and a chance to fight for glory at future Olympic Games
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WINNING a European Championship bronze medal has got an Elgin taekwon-do schoolgirl dreaming of the Olympics.
Adele Williamson (17) hopes her podium performance in Sarajevo this month will be enough to see her accepted on to the GB Taekwon-do Academy’s senior world class programme.
Having been part of the junior Fighting Chance programme, which includes twice-monthly training sessions in Manchester, the Elgin Academy pupil has applied for a senior place which, if successful, would see her relocate to England next year.
“That is the chance to get an opportunity on the world class programme so I would move to Manchester and hopefully train for the Olympics,” she said.
“It would be a fantastic opportunity for me.”
A strong performance in her return to the competitive stage at the European junior championships in Bosnia has done Williamson’s chances of becoming a senior Team GB athlete in her sport the world of good.
“I still can’t believe it, I was delighted to win the bronze,” she said. “I had four fights, I won three and then I lost my semi-final.
“That was quite hard just because the girl was a lot taller than me, she was from Russia and she was the eventual winner so at least I can say I lost to the champion.”
Williamson was a kickboxing champion in her younger years and switched to taekwon-do, quickly gaining her place on the GB development programme.
Like almost all other sports, taekwon-do suffered during Covid lockdown but the Elgin teenager found ways to keep her fitness and technique at a high level.
“During lockdown I was training at home, I’ve got my garage turned into a gym so I could train there.
“The GB Taekwondo Academy did live Zoom sessions and they resembled the training they would do at the national centre and did that twice a month as well.
“On the lead-up to the championships I was training before and after school. I had to raise my game because I knew the standard would be really high so I wanted to get in the best position I could possibly be.
“We also got a training camp in Croatia just before flying out to the Championships. Some of my competitors were in Croatia so I was able to see what I was up against before I went into the competition and it gave me a really good confidence boost.
“I’m glad all my hard work paid off and I want to thank everyone who has supported me on my journey.”
