FOR the record, Pauline Lopez’s toughest taekwondo match isn’t the worst battle she's ever had to face. It was having to combat the gender stereotypes that are ever-present in her sport.
The first person who ever doubted her interest in an interest that was male-dominated was her father. And that’s when she knew she wanted it more.
“When I first started taekwondo when I was eight years old, my dad was actually the one who said, ‘You’re a girl, you shouldn’t be doing this.' And all the more I thought, ‘So what? I can keep doing this for as long as I want’. I was fighting with guys who think they can beat me, but I’m the one who’s been beating them,” she revealed to SPIN Life.
From then on, she sank her teeth into taekwondo, training day and night to prove herself.
The 23-year-old Filipina jin now has two Southeast Asian Games gold medals, separate golds from Asian Championships, Korean Opens and Pan Am Opens, and is vying for a slot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
She said: “It’s not just about being an athlete, it’s about having the rights. I am in a sport dominated by men, and yet, women succeed. [Passion] translates to dedication and commitment, and on top of that, I just don’t want men stepping over women. We have to stand our ground, and that’s what I’m doing.”
What fueled the competitive workhorse in her was the drive to influence younger girls to defy the odds and become their very own game-changers.
“I am all about women, so to all the girls out there, never let your gender define your capabilities," she advised. "As for me, I literally breathe and live taekwondo now and nothing will get in the way.”
Looking back now, she's glad that she was able to convince her father that she deserved to be in the sport. “He's now a 110 percent supporitive, but just imagine if I believed his words?”
Now? Her father is her biggest fan.
Source: Spin PH
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