ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK

Last year we left her on her knees, head down on the mat, giving her thanks for her third world title in a row. This time, the first thing she did was raising her front kick toward the sky, where she now rightfully belongs, before showing off an incredible 270° backward standing split. The rumors have Suji Kang leaving Korea and top class competitions after displaying this superb four of a kind poker hand. Should we lose her, next world champs will definitely miss her brightest star, but there's no doubt little Suji already proved herself as the best poomsae player ever since the world championships were established. Her final round in Bali remains as a testament of her superior technique, speed and flexibility. No one was ever seen to kick as fast and high as she does. Your eyes simply cannot keep up as she abruptly accelerates upward, like her feet and the hall ceiling had suddenly fallen in love. You are only left with a memory snapshot of a tiny graceful statue, assuming an impossible heroic pose for the blink of an eye.
For the past four years, Suji Kang has been a shining symbol of the beauty and expressiveness of TKD Poomsae, inspiring players from all over the world and impressing anybody who was lucky enough to see her in action. Her sublime performances, pure smile and unexpected pride are the best sponsors this sport could ever dream of.

(photos 1-4: 8thworldtaekwondopoomsaechampionship2013.com; photos 2-3-5: unverified source)

AN INTERVIEW WITH QUEEN ELIF

Elif in action at the European Poomsae Championships 2013

The first time I told you about Elif Yilmaz was in 2011, when she emerged victorious from the European Poomsae Championships held in Genoa. She was only 17 but she was already a star, equally shining both in and out of the mat. This year, as soon as she became senior, Elif rocked the national selections to be confirmed in the Turkey National Team, thus entering the European Championships in Alicante (Spain) this late April. So the young girl who impressed Italy with sky-high kicks and incredibly long princess-like hair, was facing a new challenge. In a new division. With a new look. But the same outcome... Gold! The princess has now become queen. Then a few days ago the kind Elif agreed to be interviewed for this blog. The result is a long conversation, uncovering the immense work behind her victories, some lovely anecdotes from her childhood and her evenly sweet and tenacious personality. Then let’s hear it from Her Majesty... 

Cryu: Elif, you followed your father's footsteps, as Mustafa Yilmaz is also an internationally renowned taekwondo master and champion. Did you start TKD on your own will or it was him who first took you to the gym? Once I read Laura Kim Kim as a child didn’t like TKD, but her father Master Kim someway obliged her to train. You and Laura are maybe the most successful European Poomsae athletes in the world, so it is curious to see how similar are your beginnings of career.

Elif: When I was 1 year old and I took my first steps, my dad bought me a dobok, started to make me do some kicks and teached me how to kiap. As for all girls on this planet, dad was my first and biggest love. So I have always followed his footsteps and I still try to do it. When I was 3 or 5 years old he went to some championships abroad and I was very sick because my love had left me alone for the first time. When he came back home I healed up and started to check his gifts for me. He always bought Barbie dolls and TKD bears for me and my sister. I've always liked bears. One day I asked him <<how you going to other countries? By plane? Can you fly, dad?>>, he answered me <<yes I am flying and if you want to fly away you have to start TKD!>>. That day, I decided to start TKD.
My first training years were very easy, I learnt so many things in the fastest way because we used to train at home. After 3 years, I started to train in a dojang. It was scary but I inculcated into myself: <<Elif, you are the daughter of Mustafa Yilmaz. Stay strong!>>, and so I did.

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)

KICK OF THE NORTH STAR

Number one athletes are often handsome people. Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Kakà. I am getting more and more convinced that there is a fil rouge connecting beauty and talent in sport. And when it comes to aesthetic sports like diving, figure skating, gymnastics, and - of course - taekwondo Poomsae, sometimes I am driven to think that beauty provides an unbeatable, untrainable added value to the presentation score. This can be the case of Roosa Närhi, Finland Senior 1 Champion. Now look at her yopchagi. A very high kick is not always a beautiful kick. Back, hips and legs can get overturned to bring the foot higher, thus compensating some limitations on the flexibility side. Roosa's sidekick instead has the triumphal shape of an equestrian statue. Her front leg leads the charge pointing up and forward, her kicking foot is perfectly parallel to the ground, and her stern refulgent expression adds the solemn charm of an ice Amazon. Gorgeous.

(Photos courtesy of Aleksandar Golović)

WILD WILD ELIF

One personality that really couldn't go unnoticed at Genova 2011 is the junior European champion Elif Yilmaz, from Turkey. She's got everything she needs: cold blood, incredible high kicks, and the proud killer look you could expect from a warrior princess. What you couldn't expect, though, is how Elif's vibrant personality is constantly drawing attention even when she's not busy on the tatami. The first time I saw her was on the stands, during her father's competition. Elif was standing in front of the first row of seats in order to take photos. When some people kindly asked her to get out of their sights, she put on one of the scariest faces I've ever seen, thus silencing her unwanted interlocutors. A few moments later, when the first score appeared on the screens, she ran away crying with joy, without even waiting for her father's final exercise, which would actually crown Mustafa Yilmaz European Master 1 champion. The next day, she had just secured her gold medal with a flawless performance when I met her again on the stands, having a conversation with a couple of guys from another national team. <<Really? Am I first?>>. She was dominating the competition and she didn't even know!! Apart from her glorious smile on the podium, the last memory of her I retain is Elif having a souvenir T-shirt signed by all her foreign athlete friends... while she was wearing it. Irresistible Elif.

(Photos courtesy of Aleksandar Golović)