Julia has been training Taekwon-do for 22 years under the Inspirational Instruction of Master Sutherland and has been an International competitor for 17 years. Throughout her career she has won 6 World Titles with 2 best overall female and 15 European titles with 3 best overall female along with numerous national titles. She was fortunate enough to be inducted into the ITF Hall of Fame for best female competitor last year, 2007, at the World Championships in Quebec.
This year by far has been the hardest yet as last December she found out that she needed a new hip. With no cartilage left, mass inflammation, tears and bone growths an operation was the only answer to relieve the pain and continue in Taekwon-do at any level. This was a huge shock and she immediately said yes to the operation which would allow her to compete again and put off a major operation for a few years.
That operation was on 5th February 2008 and on Saturday 17th May 2008 she won her 15th European title in -58kg sparring, just 3 months after surgery.
The recovery was very tough but after she was off crutches she was determined to compete in Wroclaw. Her surgeon told her to follow his recovery plan 100% and if she did this then she would be ok to compete. Perseverance and Indomitable spirit most definitely played a huge part in the last 3 months.
The final decision was only made 2 weeks before the event. But Julia had trained with this goal in mind for the last 3 months and through the tough physiotherapy and daily gym work to gain back strength, flexibility and rotation she felt she would be ready. If all that wasn’t enough to overcome she tore the cartilage in her knee 3 weeks before the event and had to make do with an injection to keep the pain at bay until an operation in July.
When Julia sets her mind to something it’ll take a stick of dynamite to shift her off course! Against the odds she fought her way brilliantly through 4 rounds into the sparring final. Sheer determination and mental strength drove her through. And, as if she didn’t have enough to contend with, she tore her hamstring at the attachment during her 4th round after unleashing a hooking kick.
The sparring final was held in the evening, incorporated into the opening ceremony, and after an afternoon of hanging around, I wouldn’t like to think how sore she was.
She defeated Sweden’s Kristina Jelenic, on the raised centre stage, to an extremely loud and out of tune rendition of “When the Scots go marching in...” which was belted out by 17 extremely proud team mates jumping around in the cheap seats! 6 world titles and now 15 European titles, Scotland has one legendary competitor who may never be rivalled.
Julia would like to give thanks to Master Sutherland and Heath Denholm for never giving up on her and her team mates whose support in Poland and the lead up, was amazing.