Janine Watson, Australia's most decorated and accomplished para taekwondo athlete, has retired from competition. One of the few to compete at a World Taekwondo Championships level in both kyorugi and poomsae, she bows out as the undisputed world number one in P34 para-poomsae, a ranking she held for 12 straight years from 2014 to 2026 without losing a single para-poomsae contest.

Her final performance came at the 2026 Australian Taekwondo National Championships in Canberra, where she won gold. Fittingly, the last pattern she performed was Taegeuk 1, the very first poomsae that kickstarted her 19-year career.

Along the way, Watson became Australia's first taekwondo Paralympian, won the nation's first Paralympic taekwondo medal, and claimed four Para Poomsae World Championship titles. It is a record that has pathed the way for Australian para taekwondo to inspire the next generation of athletes in our country.

A diagnosis that started it all

Before taekwondo, Watson was already a capable sportswoman, having played netball and tennis at state and national level. In 2007, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The prognosis was blunt. Doctors told her that without treatment she could expect to be in a wheelchair within five years, a quadriplegic within ten, and that she should not expect to see her 40th birthday. Their advice was to "go home and make yourself comfortable."

Watson chose a different path. She walked into Russell Macarthur Taekwondo in Chinchilla and took up a brand-new challenge, entering the world of taekwondo. Within six months, still a yellow belt, she had won her first national kyorugi title.

"I actually framed all my medals I won as a yellow belt because I thought that would be all I could achieve," Watson said.

From Able-Bodied competitor to Para Pioneer

When Watson started, there was no pathway for her in para taekwondo, so she competed in able-bodied events. Between 2007 and 2011 she won state and national titles in both kyorugi and poomsae. Her commitment was extraordinary: she regularly made a nine-hour round trip to Brisbane for a 90-minute training session.

She earned her black belt in 2012 and began representing Australia in both disciplines, competing at the US Open and the Korean Open, where she won poomsae bronze plus kyorugi bronze and silver.

In 2013 she won poomsae gold and kyorugi silver at the New Zealand Open, then poomsae gold and two kyorugi golds at the Daedo All Star International in Florida. In 2014 she took bronze in both disciplines at the Australian Open.

The 2014 Commonwealth Championships in Scotland marked her move into para competition. She still fought in able-bodied kyorugi there, and even had a finger reattached during the event. But she also contested para poomsae for the first time, and won gold. It was the start of a reign that would last until her retirement.

Twelve years at the top

With no para kyorugi category available to her, and no longer able to compete in able-bodied kyorugi, Watson retired from sparring and focused on para poomsae. In 2015 in Turkey she won Australia's first Para Poomsae World Championship. She defended the title in England in 2017 and again in Turkey in 2019.

In 2018, a rule change made her eligible for para kyorugi, and she won bronze at her first para kyorugi tournament, the Kimunyong Cup. The road to Tokyo had begun. Alongside Steven Currie and Kara Fournie, and coaches Bernie Victor and Ben Hartmann, she formed a tight-knit team. In 2019 she reached the quarter-finals at the World Championships and the European Championships in Italy, and won bronze at both the Korean Open and the Tokyo Games test event.

Janine with her coach, Ben Hartmann.

On 29 February 2020, all three athletes qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics at the Oceania Region Qualification Tournament. A week later, the world shut down with the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was uncertain whether the Games would go ahead at all.

When the Games were delayed to 2021, Currie and Fournie made the heartbreaking decision to withdraw through injury. Watson became Australia's sole para taekwondo representative, with coach Ben Hartmann in her corner, and its first taekwondo Paralympian. Competing on the second-last day of the Games, she lost her opening bout by two points in the final seconds.

She fought back through repechage, winning two matches to reach the bronze medal contest, and won it 63–0, still the largest winning margin in Paralympic para taekwondo history.

It was Australia's first Paralympic taekwondo medal.

The next day, another rule change made her ineligible for para kyorugi, ending her sparring career on a podium. She returned to poomsae, and in 2024 won her fourth world title in Bahrain.

A legacy beyond the mat

Watson's influence reaches well past her own results. In 2023, she and coach Ben Hartmann were awarded the Australian Sports Medal for their contribution to the Australian Paralympic team at Tokyo 2020.

In 2024 she became a World Taekwondo international classifier. She now sits on the WT Para Taekwondo Classification Committee and represented World Taekwondo at the 2026 IPC Classification Conference in Germany.

In 2025, Australian Taekwondo established the Janine Watson Medal for Para Athlete of the Year. "I wanted an award that recognised the fantastic achievements of para athletes, something that had not been considered in the past," she said. In 2026 she also established the AT Para-Poomsae Performance Program, building a pathway for the athletes who will follow her.

Janine Watson presenting the 2026 Janine Watson Medal to Australia's current para star, Shrijana Ghising.

Nineteen years ago, Watson made a decision to make the best out of the cards she was dealt, and she built one of the great careers in Australian para sport. She lives by a simple philosophy: "Do what I can, as well as I can, for as long as I can." Few have done it better.

Australian will miss a true champion of the sport, but as her legacy and everything she has built carries on. Australian Taekwondo would like to congratulate Janine on her illustrious career, and wish her all the best as she transitions into a different era of her life. She is irreplaceable, and we look forward to seeing the next generation of para athletes reach their potential through the means of which she has built.