Local taekwondo athlete and official Susanne Mitchell of Yorkton Kee's Taekwondo was invited to participate in the 2012 London Olympic Games Referee Selection and Training camp held in Mexico City.
The four day event, which ran April 8 to 12, was aimed at identifying potential Olympic taekwondo candidates who would earn a place as one of the 12 referees to officiate at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England.
The 57 referees invited to the camp were tested and drilled on their knowledge of rules, hand signals, match management, video replay, agility, physical fitness, hearing and vision. Psychological strength and ability to work under stress was also tested.
Participants put in long days, working from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The first two days involved preparation for testing while the last two days involved the actual testing, Mitchell reports.
Of the 12 positions up for grabs, 10 were for center referees and/or corner judges and two review jury positions. Competition was, therefore, tough, Mitchell says.
In order to be eligible to officiate at the international level, a referee must hold a fourth dan standing, Mitchell points out. After reaching the fourth dan level, each official must earn points by refereeing a certain number of matches in order to advance to the next level. Officials start at the practise class level and advance through third, second and first class levels. The S class is the top level whose members are the only ones eligible to sit on a review jury, Mitchell elaborates.
A third class referee herself, Mitchell who was one of seven Canadian officials invited to the camp, feels honored to receive her invitation. Of the seven Canadians, she was one of only two Canadian women. "Going to the international events I do go to, I guess I must have showed good potential to qualify for this camp," she says.
Mitchell recently learned that she didn't advance to the next round of competition. She's undeterred however as she didn't expect to be invited to the first round of the tryouts as there are people who she believes have considerably more experience than she does. She's not completely out of the running. If one of the people selected to go can't make it, Mitchell could still be in line to officiate at the 2012 Olympic Games. But, having experienced the camp, Mitchell is determined to try again. "I still have a shot at the 2016 Olympics," she closes.
