THE WORLD BOWS TO YOU

Do yourself a favor. Watch her. Watch her as she performs Koryo. Because if you don't see her, you could never believe it. This small girl is the absolute pinnacle of TKD Poomsae. Su-Ji Kang is the name. You know, here in the West we are used to considering Korean Poomsae players as aliens. But she... she is something aliens would certainly be admired of. And yet she's human, as there is one moment in every World Championship when she gently trembles on a single stance, like she was telling us she's neither magic or extraterrestrial, only stellar.
Whereas Korean athletes doing the splits while kicking are not new to us, she impresses in both speed and verticality. She actually moves faster than your eyeballs; when you realize she's kicking, she's already using one foot like a visor, while holding her legs at right angles to the ground.
A few months ago, the Olympic Games celebrated some real giants as the best fighters in the world. This early December, the aesthetic branch of our discipline crowned this cute girl as its unparalleled Empress. Then tiny Su-Ji prostrated herself on the mat in a prayer of thanks, thus looking even smaller in the moment she was proclaimed the greatest among the greatest for the third time in a row. This is what real champions are made of.

(Pre-editing photos: mastaekwondo.com, Rowdy Leedeman, Nico Randriam)