Anastasija Zolotic reaches her zenith of taekwondo success
TOKYO (BVM) — When it comes to the Olympics, the United States is typically a powerhouse. But one event that’s been its kryptonite, the sport it’s never quite reached the mountaintop of, is taekwondo. That is until Anastasija Zolotic came up from the depths this summer to win the U.S. its first-ever taekwondo gold medal.
Going in, she didn’t know that was at stake. She didn’t understand that history was on the line every time she took to battle. Zolotic was just treating it like any other international event she’s had the honor of competing in.
“I think it’s kind of a good thing I didn’t realize until after the fact just because it would’ve put a lot of pressure on me,” Zolotic said. “You get there and you’re like, ‘oh, I want to make history, I want to win the Olympics.’ To get two-in-one, it’s unbelievable and everything I worked for.”
The road to get to this point was indeed a long one, one that can’t be explained any other way than by fate. It included a childhood filled with uninterest in taekwondo, a cross-country move to Colorado for training purposes and qualifying for the Olympics as somewhat of an underdog.
Starting as a youngster, Zolotic was more concerned with having fun like the rest of the neighborhood kids. Fighting wasn’t something that attracted her, but her dad was in love with it. If it wasn’t for him, the gold medalist may have never stepped out on a mat, let alone reached the apex of taekwondo.
“He’d sit us down in front of the TV and we’d watch Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan and he’d show us videos and say, ‘wow, wasn’t that amazing?’ and me and my sister were like, ‘yeah, we are going to go grab our scooters and ride around the neighborhood,’” Zolotic said. “He kind of took it upon himself one day to put us into taekwondo school.”
Now 14 years later, Zolotic is one of the best in the world. She learned to love it, and the sport became a part of her. So much so that the training she was doing in Largo, Florida, wasn’t living up to her expectations. She required more; insert world renowned coach Gareth Brown from the United Kingdom.
In 2018, Brown had just recently moved to the U.S. to coach at the Team USA facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado. To become acquainted with what the states had to offer in terms of talent, Brown traveled to Tunisia for the Junior World Championship where he became fixated on a standout talent.
“That’s where I saw Ana for the first time,” Brown said. “She performed incredibly that day. She won Junior World Championships and qualified for the Youth Olympic Games.”
From there, a relationship formed between Brown and the Zolotic family. In a move that was viewed as best for her career, Anastasija packed her bags for Colorado, looking to ramp up her training. That was the moment that Zolotic pronounced her career “blew up.”
Between world-class facilities, top-of-the-line coaching and qualifying for the Olympics via the Pan American Championships, the 5-foot-11, 18-year-old had become an international threat. That momentum carried over in Tokyo, where Zolotic officially became the USA’s first taekwondo gold medalist.
The outpouring of support has been substantial from friends and family alike.
“I went on Instagram and I went from 2,000 to 10,000 followers in less than 24 hours,” Zolotic said. “People are so kind, messaging me … I’m trying to respond to everybody and I feel so bad that I can’t. The first person I called after was my mom. Everybody was there sitting behind a TV screen watching me. My mom was shaking the phone around and didn’t even know what was going on.”
Her rise to the top has been like the script of a Hollywood movie, but it hasn’t come without hard work. But it’s her learned passion for taekwondo that makes it so easy to continue pushing.
“100% it’s her attitude towards fighting,” Brown said. “This isn’t archery with great respect to that highly-skilled sport. This is a contact sport with that mix of boxing, judo, unique people who have that mentality where they want to fight and they enjoy fighting.”
But with so many taekwondo matches still on her horizon, Zolotic isn’t satisfied. How she got here and how she completed the mission for gold may be enough to quench another competitor’s thirst, but not her’s. To date, the most accomplished Olympic taekwondo competitor is Hwang Kyung-Seon of South Korea, and Zolotic wants that throne.
“We spoke within an hour of winning this gold medal and highlighted the fact that to date, the most successful athlete in the sport has got two golds and a bronze, so Ana wants to go for that,” Brown said. “She wants three Olympic gold medals and I believe she can do it. She’s young enough and she has the talent.”
