Steven Lopez - an awesome taekwondo fighter

In taekwondo sparring Steven Lopez is a name that will be remembered for many years to come.

He is an incredible athlete and competitor.

And his achievements show us all the power of perseverance.

October 2009 - Lopez becomes 1st 5-time world champion in taekwondo sparring

To win one taekwondo world championships is beyond most people's wildest dreams.

To win five times is truly awesome.

This quote is on the wtf website

'The victory means a lot to me. I won a bronze at the Beijing Olympic Games and I haver trained very hard to this day. I made history in taekwondo and I am proud of being part of the history.'

We bet he is!

You can see in these photos - again from the wtf website - that Lopez is wearing the new style electronic chest protector.

There are electronic sensors in the players footwear.

This is an automatic system for measuring taekwondo sparring body shots.

This should be more accurate than rather than relying on the judges to spot them.

We understand that shots have to be pretty hard to count.

Head shots are still recorded manually.

The 2009 world taekwondo championships drew a total of 928 athletes from 142 countries.

This is the largest ever in wtf sparring history.

Facts about Lopez

• Steven likes to read self-help books, listening to all kinds of music, dancing and playing other sports.
• His older brother, Jean, is a two-time Pan American Champion and a silver medalist at the world championships.
• Younger brother, Mark, and younger sister, Diana, are also National Team members and 2005 world champions. Imagine that! 4 siblings at elite taekwondo level- amazing!
• Steven's favorite foods are his mother's home cooking, Chili's molten chocolate cake, and Vietnamese cuisine.
• The day before a competition Steven eats chicken with rice and veggies. On the day of competition he usually eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a piece of fruit.

More facts about Steven Lopez from USA Taekwondo

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