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Three-time World Champion Janine Watson says she is ‘conserving her emotion’ so she can channel her peak performance when Para-taekwondo features for the first time at the Paralympics, in the second week of the Tokyo Games.
Watson became the newest member of the Australian Paralympic Team when she was inducted on Tuesday, earning the honour of being the nation’s inaugural Paralympic representative in the sport.
“To officially have my ticket, after qualifying Australia for its position back in February 2020, it’s been a long road but I’m very grateful to finally confirm that I’m heading off to Tokyo. It’s a fantastic feeling,” Watson said.
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The majority of Watson’s success in Para-taekwondo may count for little, however, as the discipline to be contested at Tokyo 2020 is different to that in which she won her world titles. Nevertheless, the way she adapted and seized her opportunity to compete at the Paralympics is typical of her determination.
“Kyorugi is full contact sparring and Poomsae is patterns. My world championships were in Poomsae,” Watson said.
“In Kyorugi I was only classified at the end of 2018 when they expanded the classification to include people with neurological impairments (Watson has multiple sclerosis). Before that I was competing against able-bodied athletes.
“At the end of 2018, I was told to get my butt to Korea within two weeks to get classified. So I did a whirlwind week of fight training, flew over to Korea, got classified and won a bronze medal at the Korean Open. Since then I’ve been consistently winning medals.”
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Watson was selected to compete at the Tokyo Test Event in 2019 which, she said, gave her the advantage of knowing the venue and conditions. But the Queenslander, who excels also at wheelchair tennis, is keeping her anticipation in check.
“A lot of people ask me ‘Am I excited?’ But my approach is to focus on day-by-day. If I improve on what I do today, I then focus on the next day. Before I know it, I’ll be there competing in Tokyo. So, it’s sort of conserving my emotion until the eventual day.”
Ultimately, she said, success in Tokyo would be “just getting Para-taekwondo out into the community. I want to show people what we can do and how amazing the sport is. If I come home with a medal, then that’s even better.”
Paralympics Australia Chief Executive Lynne Anderson congratulated Watson on her historic achievement.
“It’s an honour Janine will always have and we couldn’t wish for a better athlete to be our first Paralympic taekwondo competitor,” Anderson said.
“Janine is a talented all-round sportsperson who exemplifies our Team’s motto: Loyal, Proud, Fierce. I’m very much looking forward to seeing her in action when she competes at the Makuhari Messe on the final day of the Games.”
Australian Team Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin said: “The determination Janine showed to secure her spot, adapting to Kyorugi and then qualifying through Oceania, shows she has all the attributes to reach her goals in Tokyo.
“The Para-taekwondo competition will be extremely tough but we feel we have a very special athlete in Janine and we’ll be doing everything we can to help her achieve her best.”
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Watson made special mention of the support she’d received from Australian Taekwondo, the Queensland Academy of Sport and her coach Ben Hartmann.
“Ben’s essentially been my kick bag for the last 18 months,” she said.
“If you actually see how I kick, I don’t know how his ribs survive! He’s been the biggest support, he goes above and beyond what any coach would ever do.”
By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 29 June 2021
