For Australia’s 2024 Olympic Games Taekwondo athletes – comprising Australian and Oceania champions Stacey Hymer (57kg), Leon Sejranovic (80kg) and Bailey Lewis (58kg) – the journey to Paris has been challenging, memorable, and ultimately incredibly rewarding. As elite athletes their dedication and determination is unquestionable, but they couldn’t have made it to the pinnacle of their sport on their own. 

In pursuit of their Olympic dreams, all three athletes have been training tirelessly at the National Performance Centre (NPC) in Melbourne under the guidance of National Coach, Dr Seokhun Lee, (who previously coached the Korean National team to numerous Grand Prix titles and World Championship medals), National Program Coach, Ryan Carneli (who represented Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games), and the Combat Institute of Australia’s (CombatAUS) Taekwondo program. 

Since taking the position in February 2022, Dr Lee, one of the world’s leading Taekwondo coaches, has helped enhance the strategic and technical prowess of Australia’s high-performance athletes, ably supported by Carneli’s technical coaching expertise.

The trio of Hymer, Sejranovic and Lewis recently returned from a three-week training camp in Europe, before heading into the last phase of training at the NPC, where they have been fine-tuning their preparations, which included two weeks of training alongside Korean athletes Jun-Seo Bae, Hyun-woo Kim, Mireu Kang, Bo-Ra Kang and Ah-reum Lee. 

When the Taekwondo gets underway at the Grand Palais in Paris, Hymer, Sejranovic and Lewis will be ready to put all their training and experience into practice.

Stacey Hymer

Stacey Hymer, a seasoned competitor in the 57kg division, is set to make her second appearance at the Games. Reflecting on the qualification process for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the dual Olympian reveals it has been a tough yet enjoyable experience over the past 18 months.

“At the beginning of 2023, I knew the stakes were high to attend benchmark events such as World Championships and Grand Prix events, so I set my goals to make that happen,” she says. “Completing my goals heading into 2024 took a weight off my shoulders, I knew my hard work had paid off. I am incredibly proud to be a dual Olympian, as it marks a milestone in my sporting career.“

Hymer has no doubt that her training at the National Performance Centre under Seokhun Lee and Ryan Carneli (before he became National Performance Coach at the NPC in December 2022), and being part of the Combat Institute of Australia has enabled her to become an Olympic Taekwondo athlete and reach a higher level of development in her skills and abilities. 

“The training is intense, yet playful, pushing your body to its limits, yet enjoying every bit of it,” she says. “Having all the resources from the VIS [Victorian Institute of Sport] and NPC to prepare for the Paris Games is reassuring and makes me feel very confident for myself and the other Taekwondo Olympians.”

Of course the complete journey to the Olympics begins years or even decades in advance. And Hymer is full of praise for all the clubs and coaches who have played important roles in her development and success over a long period of time. 

Her very first Taekwondo sparring lessons started at Halls Taekwondo; Zoran and Warren Hansen were her first ever competition coaches. The early stages of her Taekwondo sparring development began at Fighting Lyons, where her fighting spirit was encouraged and inspired by the late Paul Lyons.

“Paul’s ability to instil self-motivation and self-discipline was unmatched and I believe they are the core foundations of becoming an Olympic athlete,” she says. 

“I am very grateful to have been surrounded by great coaches from the very beginning to the present day. I now train at the National Performance Centre with National Coach Seokhun Lee, the ultimate Taekwondo guru of all time.”

Hymer is also quick to pay tribute to her current Taekwondo club, Notorious Martial Arts.

“My club, Notorious Martial Arts, has been a huge support and contributing factor to my success. Under the guidance of Ryan Carneli, I have been able to excel in sparring and learn the mentality of becoming an Olympic athlete,” she says.

And Hymer has a final message before she represents Australia in Paris: “Thank you to the Taekwondo community, my family and friends and everyone else in my community that has continuously supported me from the beginning and those that have joined me recently, alongside me and afar,” she says. “I am very grateful for each and every one of you, I thrive off your energy and I’m proud to be representing you.”

Leon Sejranovic

For another athlete from Notorious Martial Arts, 21-year-old Victorian, Leon Sejranovic, the opportunity to represent Australia at the Olympics is an honour as well as a dream come true. The Olympic debutant started Taekwondo when he was just 3 years old, and at the age of 10 watched Taekwondo live at the 2012 London Olympics.

“Since then my dream has been to represent Australia at the Olympics and bring home a medal for our country,” Sejranovic reveals. “It has taken many years of hard, rigorous training and countless sacrifices, but the honour of being an Olympian has made it all worthwhile. I can’t wait to represent Australia and Australian Taekwondo and I hope to make everyone proud.”

Having ended Australia's decade-long medal drought for Senior able-bodied Australian athletes by winning bronze in the 74kg division at the 2023 World Senior Kyorugi Taekwondo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sejranovic will enter the Games primed to deliver another  special performance.

And once again it’s Notorious Martial Arts and Ryan Carneli, who coached Sejranovic through his cadet and junior years, that the athlete credits for enabling his progress to the top.

“Ryan is one of the main reasons I am where I am today. He always went above and beyond to create the best fighters and I feel extremely fortunate to have been a part of such an incredible club,” Sejranovic says.

Now training exclusively at the NPC, where his program involves training  five days per week, twice each day – one Taekwondo session and one gym session – Sejranovic believes that such a high-performance environment has helped take his Taekwondo to yet another level.

“Training at the NPC is amazing. It’s so important to have the best fighters in the country all training together, improving each other and feeding off each other's energy and intensity during training,” he says.

“We are especially fortunate to be coached by Seokhun Lee who is one of the best coaches in the world, I would argue he is the best, the passion and energy he brings to every session is incredible and his knowledge of Taekwondo is on another level. Ryan joining as a coach has been instrumental too and they complement each other so well and are always on the same page, which makes it so easy to be an athlete under them.”

Sejranovic would also like to offer a “massive thank you” to all his friends, family, coaches and support staff.

“Without them, there is no way I would be in the position that I am in now as an Olympian,” he says. “I would also like to say a big thank you to the entire Australian Taekwondo community who have gotten behind me since my medal at the World Championships. I have felt all the love and support leading into these Olympics, it has given me so much motivation, and I really hope to make all of you proud and inspire more young fighters to chase their Olympic dream.”

Bailey Lewis

Also eagerly preparing for his Olympic debut in Paris, Bailey Lewis could not be more excited. And having claimed back-to-back bronze Paris Grand Prix medals last year, the 26-year-old’s hopes are understandably high.

“To be an Olympian is a great feeling, however I’m not just looking to make up the numbers, I want to bring home a medal,” he says.

Like Hymer and Sejranovic, Lewis will compete with the confidence that comes from a meticulous training program under the watch of the best coaches in the country.

“Although it is an individual sport, I could not have made it on my own. I have a massive support team around me, and we all strive for the same goal,” he says. “I reached the Olympics through years and years of hard training with amazing coaches, teammates and support staff by my side.”

Lewis’ club coach at City West Taekwondo in Victoria, Frank De Pasquale, has been a guiding light throughout. “Frank has been with me the whole journey, even though he doesn’t specifically coach me on the mats or at training he is always in the background helping with strategies to get the best performance out of me,” Lewis says.

Furthermore, the NPC provides an ideally balanced training program, according to Lewis. “Training at NPC is like nowhere else in the world. It's a high-performance environment and we train very hard Monday to Friday, however it is very fun and relaxed. This is due to the culture Ryan [Carneli] and Seok Hun [Lee] have built.”

You can cheer on Stacey Hymer, Leon Sejranovic, and Bailey Lewis as they represent Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics when the Taekwondo competition runs from 7-10 August at the Grand Palais strip.