With taekwondo Asian gold in rearview, Seavmey looks toward Brazil

Standing at nearly 185cm, taekwondo star Sorn Seavmey is used to towering – whether it’s over her opponents or aside Prime Minister Hun Sen. For a time, she thought her height might lead her down a different path. “My sister and I wanted to be models when we were young,” Seavmey said with a laugh in an interview this week. “We always watched the modelling shows on TV.”

“I never wanted to be an athlete,” she added. “I was afraid of the exhaustion and the pain.” Nonetheless, two weeks ago, the 21-year-old Seavmey became the first athlete in Cambodian history to qualify for the Olympic Games, when she defeated a hometown favourite to win gold in Manila at the Asian qualifying tournament.

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