“When you work with love, perseverance and interest, taekwondo accomplishes great things,”  said the Colombian mother, speaking in a t-shirt emblazoned with the name of her daughter, Jhormary. “Though taekwondo, Jhormary has changed in unimaginable ways - including aspects of her life that medical therapies had not been able to overcome. “

Vika Marchuk, who was born with severely disabled arms, was abandoned as a baby and raised in an orphanage, suffering a hard life before being discovered by taekwondo coach Yuliya Volkova. Marchuk, then 22-years-old and previously a track and field athlete, was raised to championship level by Volkova’s patient coaching.

Lisa Gjessing lost an arm to cancer in 2012, but now reckons she is happier than she was prior to the amputation. How so? Well…being a world para-taekwondo champion has something to do with it.