Heartbeat: Yvonne kicks her way to gold in Croatia
August 5, 2019
Yvonne Gibson, a mild mannered health visitor kicked her way to winning a Gold medal in foot destruction at the recent European Taekwondo Championships in Novigrad, Croatia.
Not only did Yvonne win a gold medal for foot destruction but she also achieved two bronze medals. One of these medals was for sparring and one for patterns made up of 68 movements and to top off it off, this was after Yvonne took a 27 year break from Taekwondo.
In 1982, Yvonne originally started training to help with building her confidence and for self-defence, however she soon discovered she had exceptional talent in Taekwondo and was encouraged to enter competitions by her instructor. Currently, she is a 3rd degree international Black Belt. She has also attained a World Champion sparring bronze trophy in 1985 and a World Champion Gold medal in foot destruction in 2013 and 2016.
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art, characterised by its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks and fast kicking techniques. The martial art requires intense training which Yvonne embraced in the lead up to the championships in Croatia where she took on an intense training programme alongside her work at the Trust.
Yvonne said: “Building up to the championships in Croatia I was training at least five times a week compared to the usual twice a week alongside balancing my refereeing duties at local Taekwondo tournaments and my Health Visitor role at the Trust.”
Competition was fierce with many top athletes from across Europe at the competition in Croatia but Yvonne feels she did herself and Great Britain proud, “I felt honoured to be able to represent my country. I would like to say a massive thank you to everybody who supported me as well my coaches as without them I wouldn’t have been so successful.”
Yvonne isn’t planning on hanging up her taekwondo suit anytime soon as she is hoping to attain her 4th degree black belt in the martial art.