Following the results of the 2026 Australian Taekwondo AGM, Hassan Iskandar OAM steps into the role of new Australian Taekwondo Present. Saltis and Badreddine re-join the board for another term after a successful re-election.
When Taekwondo opens in Dakar this November, the green and gold will be seen on the mat for the very first time. Mackenzie Macdonald, a teenager from Wandong in regional Victoria, is Australia's first representative in Taekwondo at the Youth Olympic Games.
She booked her place the hard way, going through the Australian Youth Olympic Games Selection Event unbeaten and stringing together four straight wins to claim the spot.
Since the Youth Olympics launched in Singapore in 2010, the Games have moved on to Nanjing in 2014 and Buenos Aires in 2018. The fourth edition, originally planned for 2022, was pushed back, and the Senegalese capital will now host it in 2026. In Dakar, Macdonald will make history as the first Australian Taekwondo athlete ever to compete at the Youth Olympic Games.
Mackenzie was six years old when she joined Hall's Taekwondo in 2016, and by the age of eight she was competing in sparring at national level. At nine, she won three gold medals and a silver medal at the 2019 Australian Championships.
In 2022, Macdonald missed out on a place in Victoria's Performance Pathway Program. Rather than let it discourage her, she kept building through the state's Performance Development Program, which took her overseas to compete in Canada, the United States and Korea.
The Pathway door opened in 2024, when she joined as a training partner. Twelve months later she had earned Tier 1 status, and this year she was named in the national Junior Fighting Futures Squad.
She now holds a third-dan black belt, and earlier this month she claimed her tenth national title at the 2026 National Championships in Canberra.
Macdonald won gold at the 2026 Australian National Taekwondo Championships.
Macdonald's international résumé already includes 15 medals, won in competition across Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, the United States, Korea, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Uzbekistan, with return trips to several of them.
She has worn the Australian dobok at three world championships:
2026 has been the year Macdonald broke through on the international stage, collecting four gold medals across Europe, Oceania and Asia:
Every bout has sharpened her for the biggest stage of her career so far.
None of it has come by accident. Macdonald is on the mats at Hall's Taekwondo five or six days a week, and the Pathway adds another layer on top: technical coaching, strength and conditioning, national camps, overseas tours and time in high-performance training environments.
It is a team effort, shared between Mackenzie, her family, her head coach Jerry Moraitis at Hall's and the Pathway program.
Mackenzie with her coach, Jerry Moraitis.
Ten years after her first class at Hall's Taekwondo, Macdonald heads to Senegal ready to write a new chapter for the sport in Australia. Her story shows what persistence, hard work and the right support can produce.
Go get them, Mackenzie. The whole of Australia is behind you.
Mackenzie will be in action on the 9th of November and is available to be watched on the 9Now app!
Following the results of the 2026 Australian Taekwondo AGM, Hassan Iskandar OAM steps into the role of new Australian Taekwondo Present. Saltis and Badreddine re-join the board for another term after a successful re-election.
After three consecutive terms, Jean Kfoury OAM reflects on his time as Australian Taekwondo President.
Janine Watson has called time on her 19-year taekwondo career, competing at an international level in both kyorugi and poomsae. Watson finishes as Australia's most decorated para athlete, leaving behind a legacy both on and off the mat.
